Eclipse
by hippiechick2112
Summary: Part six of "Her Second Chance", narrated by Colonel Michalovich. Two Nazi Generals cause trouble for Stalag 13's prisoners. But which one has the real scoop of the operation? Which one has the intent to destroy?
1. September 29, 1944

**Her Second Chance: Eclipse**

**Note and Disclaimer:**** I'll be saying this every time. I don't own the characters to ****Hogan's Heroes**** nor do I own any of the songs I have posted. I would like to thank those who have created this series and those who have written these great songs. However, the character I have created in this series, Colonel Michalovich, belongs to me, so if you want to use her in any story you wish to write, please email me with permission first. This is part six of female spy Colonel Michalovich. This is also the beginning of the end of the war and liberation is at hand within the year.**

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**Journal of Colonel Nikola Anna Michalovich, U.S. Army: LC8547960  
****September 29, 1944  
****Hammelburg, Germany: Luftstalag 13, Outside Klink's Office – 1500 Hours**

This bellowing wind is driving me insane. The German summer, as always, has gone to a bitter winter and it not being October yet. There has been no such thing as an autumn here and I do wish it were so. The changing leaf colors have been blown off by the wintry weather gale and there has been no time here, as if the war stalled it, to view the beautiful scenery I wish Germany had. It was something that I have always looked forward to in Bridgeport. New England weather is unique indeed, and there was time to enjoy the sunny days and –

I have to discontinue thinking of home and complaining of the weather here. I am stuck at Stalag 13 here in the middle of Germany because I was transferred here and that's that. I can't fool around with what has been placed on my plate and right now, I think it's just too full considering everything. There is too much going on and today is just another day in which we have to transfer another agent out of the famous (or infamous, if you're a dead or captured Kraut) and mostly unknown Stalag 13 tunnels. The agent is holding plans for the _next_ German offensive to retake France and the Netherlands, countries that the Allied Forces have liberated from Germany in their conquest for world domination. The Allied Forces keep plowing through the countries, and especially in Africa, so the end of the war seemed to be near. From what Baker has been hearing from Baby Bear (perhaps the news was exaggerated because Baby Bear was drunk?), the European portion of the war could last anywhere from eight months to a year, at the most. Even the Asian part of the war might be over within the year because of this thing earlier dealt with called the Manhattan Project.

Allied scouts have been sensing a wind of change (no pun intended for this blistering cold) and already, the men are hearing rumors of camps being liberated, although I seriously doubt they're prisoner of war camps (Klink would have been _furious_ and defending his no-escape record to Burkhalter if such was the case). Besides, if camps were being set free, then it might be the _other_ camps that are being freed. I haven't heard much from Father on the Russian side of the war and of camp liberations yet, but he has assured me, in his un-censured letters (I get them from one of his agents once a week, but have not a word from him in a while), that the Soviet army has been herding themselves westward and might arrive in Germany before the British and Americans do.

If that was true, then Stalin _must_ be pushing his army farther than I thought he was going to. And that was in the last letter Father sent me, which was timed a month and a half ago. Things can change in that time, especially if Stalin is ordering his armies to go to the maximum. And if the armies are being told to do _more_ than what was required, then the Generals, like Father, must go on those missions in the air or on the ground and –

I don't want to think about that right now. Father is alive and I know it, old as he is.

Well, to concentrate on other, more important matters: smuggling the plans and the next agent out of here. The guards have been doubled here, because of escapes from Stalags 3, 9 and 16 simultaneously (among them was Colonel – Group Captain – Crittendon and in any case, he hasn't been recaptured and sent here yet and we can HOPE he stays out) and Klink has gone mad. Rob is in his office right now, trying to persuade the battle-weary kommandant that having too many guards around lowers the morale of the men and the Escape Committee, which has graciously met last night to ensure that there is hope. "It's the only thing we have, Sir," Rob concluded.

"That's good, Hogan," I'm hearing Klink through his window, which is opened a crack. "I can hope that it _stays_ that way. And today I am making sure there are guards in the barracks checking prisoners hourly." And Ron was dismissed, just like that.

When Rob protested this breech of disruption (not to mention confidence, for which reason, I don't know), Klink repeated his order and instructed that a guard lead him outside or else he'd be shot as a nuisance. The guard wasn't Schultz obviously or else a comic scene would have ensued and I would have been stifling a giggle or three.

Rob's coming out. I'd better stop writing now. He needs me from the look on his face.


	2. General Schruss and Jozef von Rumey

**Later – Nightfall  
****The Cooler – 1908 Hours**

"Klink must be smartening up or I'm losing my touch. I don't think, after so many times, that he's figuring out my schemes though."

Only a few hours ago were we sitting at the main table in our barracks. Baker, Newkirk, Carter, LeBeau and I were seated across and around Rob as we watched his face turn from aggravation to hurt. I had tried to talk to him as soon as he came out of Klink's office earlier, but he brushed me off and proceed to the barracks. I knew that he wanted to call for a conference in the barracks about "the morale and the Escape Committee's new strategies," as he mentioned to me as he called some men to the barracks. In reality, he wants to talk truthfully about what we _can_ do to export the agent, with those battle plans in memory. One slip and the Gestapo can swarm our agent and torture him for information. Rob didn't need to be reminded of it.

"I wouldn't think so, Sir," Baker volunteered after a lengthy silence. "If that were so then Klink would have figured out that there was a tunnel here already."

"Schultz already thinks that there is _something_," I conjured, "and he 'knows nothing' so he doesn't bother with our business. Even if Klink had a _clue_ that there was something else, then the Gestapo would be storming in here again. Then _we'd_ be the ones questioned, after Klink and Schultz are sent to the Russian Front or killed as traitors or impractical idiots. They could be shot just for lousy watching, too."

"Klink could have seen through it all and thought that I was aiming for escape," Rob said aimlessly.

"Probably for prisoners and not the agent downstairs," I said, "so don't take it personally. I don't even know _how_ many times we didn't fool Klink."

"Oui," LeBeau added. "Schultz doesn't catch the bait sometimes too."

"A-and we know for a fact that Klink isn't going to use his staff car this week," Carter said. "So, we can't transport that agent out of here, even if we could rocket him out."

"Blimey Andrew, we can't have an explosion every time you want," Newkirk said, rolling his eyes.

"But we do need to get him out of here and fast," Rob said, "or else London isn't going to be prepared for what's coming their way. Already, France and small parts of the Netherlands have been carved up and occupied by our forces. If the Germans have the guts to actually follow through with those battle plans, then we'd be in bigger trouble. Already, we have pointed our fingers at spies who wanted to wipe out these war efforts and have succeeded." Rob looked at me, across the table, with some light on his face. He was probably remembering what Carter and I did this past summer.

Rob continued. "This time, the Krauts have really thought of something…again. This agent has been a top aide for Hitler and all of his top generals for a year now and has already figured out what they want to do. However, as soon as they put two and two together, these generals, Himmler included, put a price of his head. In any case, he's here and it's vital to get him to London. Without him going to London and warning them of this impending disaster, then our forces have no chance against the Nazis. This plan of the Nazis, which he has had the sense not to tell me about, does not, I repeat, _does not_ have to go through. We have to stop them."

"We're up for some packed days then, aren't we, Colonel Hogan?" Baker asked.

"Yes, Baker," Rob answered, "and I don't want to be the one who idles the hours away before the execution."

"Then we'd have one bored colonel on own hands," Carter offered, without meaning to make a joke, but intending to anyhow. I wanted to laugh at this silly revelation, but there were more prisoners here who just wanted to get Carter to shut his mouth.

Just as Newkirk was able to say something to contradict Carter, Morrison (with his riding crop, of course), who was watching the door for us, said to Rob as he closed the ajar door, "Sir, there's a Kraut general a-comin's here. He's big brass…lots of 'em security."

"Damn, not another one coming," I said as I hopped out of my seat and went to the nearest window, the one next to the tunnel's entranceway. Behind me, the five men followed me, with more men to tow, suddenly trying to find a place at the window. Indeed, Morrison was right: the Kraut who was coming in was, indeed, top brass. He had security all around him (behind and in front of him, plus at _all_ sides) and all of the guards were in black uniforms despite the differences in the services: S.S. followed by the Gestapo in their less severe attire. They were chilling, nonetheless.

_Dammit, we're in more trouble than I thought_, I pondered just as Schultz came in, startling everyone at the windows. I swear that all the men looking must have jumped a mile. We could have been caught, but we were lucky it was Schultz.

But even Schultz was suspicious about our activities because of his sense to duty to his side. If not, imagine this then: you are a German sentry, mostly against killing someone and war altogether, who guards prisoners and lets them off the hook all the time (well, most of the time). Now, you can bribe this person for almost everything and let him turn the other way, but he has ambitions of his own. What do you do? Of course, you ask the prisoners what they are all doing, as in every other barrack, what they are doing staring intently out the glass.

There was a mad scramble for normal prisoner of war positions, but Schultz, who knows nothing, can even see clearly what we are doing then (he apparently knows us better than he lets on). Rob and I had reached the main table and were sipping coffee to vouch for this innocence, but it was for naught this time. This time Schultz was pleading, asking what we were doing after he shut the door securely behind him. Wagging his finger and putting his unloaded gun aside, Schultz starts in on some lecture. "Colonel Hogan, PLUL-EASE, keep you men AWAY from there! I KNOW you are all up to some monkey business, and I KNOW I turn the other way, but this time, this has gone too far. I should report you all to the Komman-DANT –"

And as we always do, we prisoners say the same excuse, but it was Baker, at his bunk near the window, who said it and this time, he was sneaky. "Schultz, then you would have to tell Klink where you were when we prisoners were at the window looking at that general. Wasn't that General…?"

"YES, that is General Schruss, who is a S.S. general," Schultz answered as his serious tone disappeared. "And he's coming here to…to…"

I then realized what Baker was trying to do. He was trying to say that he knew who that Kraut general was, and received who he really was from Schultz.

_Perfect job Baker!_ I thought as Schultz screamed, "NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!" Wagging his finger again, Schultz said turned back to Rob, "Colonel Hogan, PLUL-EASE stop this monkey business! And you, you…you…" Schultz turned back to Baker, who was smiling innocently enough. He stopped to watch the grinning Baker, but there were no words for Schultz to say afterward.

The wheels in my mind were working once more. _Yes, Schultz, like we're going to ignore this general as is_._ He's up to something if he's coming here to Stalag 13. A S.S. general doesn't come to a prisoner of war camp without reason._

"We will, Schultz, we will," Rob said causing Schultz to twist back to him just as LeBeau came from behind with the aroma of some fast-cooked food, causing him to be a dizzy and disoriented guard (always a clear sign that everyone has to clear the premises). "However, we have plans to configure and many plots to act out upon. Now, if you have a reason to be here, then can you –?"

"Yes, I do," Schultz said calmer now, but covering his ears. "There is roll call in ten minutes!" After much groaning after roll call being two hours ago, Schultz left, but before he could, he tossed a pile of mail on the main table and ran (if you want to call that) for his life.

Afterward, in the crowds that followed, there was a mad dash for which person can get their mail first. Rob was the first to grab the pile in this race as he was at the table with me (covering my head in the race, I was sarcastically acting out the part of keeping my body in one piece). Mail was rare enough and this was no exception.

After untying the ribbon that held it all altogether, he passed them out. "Morrison! Jacobs! Carter! Baker! Kerens! Robins! Hickerless! Amos! LeBeau!" And so this went until, after a minute or so of pleasure and many thanks, I had received my mail. It was but a single letter, very thin in size and a feather weight. It even had a return address from London, postmarked the day before yesterday.

_This is very strange. Since when does mail come in two days?_ I thought as I ripped it open with my longest nail and glanced at the familiar handwriting of my nephew Jozef. Recently, he has exchanged information from the Krauts to the Allies so they realized his value and are now using him as an agent again (this much I heard from the last month). Although I applaud their efforts on keeping him in line for me, I do not, I repeat, _do not_ want him here in Germany again. He has been missing from here for a little over a year now and if Hochstetter saw him, then we'd be in trouble indeed.

The note itself was chilling and as my neck prickled, I read the letter, only a couple of lines long: _I am back in England as their person and am now working again, as you well know now. Someone is being shadowed and you can tell who is doing that, Flower Aunt_. It was not censured or signed and it didn't need to be. I could tell who is it and all I needed to figure out who was being shadowed by Jozef.

I showed it to Rob silently as the others intently read their mail before roll call in the next five minutes. He scanned it, and said as his crew of four came over to read it too, "Then we have more problems on our hands than before."

"Yes, we do," I said as Schultz whistled for roll call (there no sirens because even Klink is tired of hearing them), "and more so because he can be traced to here and have us all killed. They can connect the dots someplace."

"And I don't feel like having a firing squad or a noose for breakfast," Baker said lightly as the prisoners filed quickly out of the barracks.

~00~

All twenty barracks stood in attention as this General Schruss came out of Klink's office with our favorite kommandant and reviewed the men here. He was just another Kraut on another day, and I, for one, do not appreciate another Kraut who knows me. I also did not need to see the child who was behind him all the way, taking notes of everything patiently enough and relaxing as he looked up to see me, without any emotion, recognition or even a sign that he was known to me. Yes, it was Jozef, and yes, he had grown up, physically, a great deal.

Maybe I was a bit too angry with the small, abrupt note that I had received from Jozef and then having the shock of seeing him there just after reading it. Or maybe it was the fact that I hated the Germans more and more as each day wore on and am tired of always uncovering and destroying more and more of their schemes, especially after June 6 of this year. Perhaps it was because I was irate at England for sending Jozef for the reason that his loyalties were questionable. Who knows? But what I do know if that I'm in the cooler, and that last roll call is why I'm here. My smartass comments to that damned general caused me to be in this sickening cell of which I have room service for (LeBeau, of course). Yes, he's just another Kraut general who knows me and is surprised that I'm…alive.

Rob tried to stop me in his own way, as he usually does when my temper is invoked (it was more of his silent disapproval), but I brushed him aside just as he did when he came out of Klink's office last. I didn't need to be reminded that I would land here if I threw my temper about. I just felt that I needed to stand up for myself in any way I can. I will never suffer a fool of a general, especially a Kraut one. Allied generals are harder to play with, but Krauts stand shocked like they have been slapped or hit with a bucket of cold water. All have no tolerance for my displeasure, however, and that has been tickling me for so long now.

Obviously, this all began at the roll call that Schultz called us to. I was still hiding the alarm I felt when I saw Jozef (thank G-d that we don't look alike – I'm assuming he's like his mother is appearances – so the dots are not connected), but I kept it back as he did with his after the initial meeting. I knew, all too well, of the times of which I had to hold back everything and it made all the difference between Life and Death. But that moment in time I didn't care whether I lived or died.

Schruss (I put the name to a face immediately) had, like I said, come out with a jabbering Klink and a face-in-paper-writing-and-oblivious-to-the-world-around-him Jozef. The inspection tour had already gone through all of the barracks but ours, and Schruss, tall, blue-eyed and part of their damned Aryan race, was laughing at the cold, miserable men who stood out just for his and Klink's pleasure. His eyes, sickening, were twinkling. I noticed this when he started to scan Barracks 2. Schruss then became startled by what was there – me. Out of the hundreds of men that reside here at Stalag 13, I am the only woman here.

Schruss' eyes flickered at me before he yelled at Jozef to stick his head back up. He did so at once, and Schruss whispered to his aide something of which I didn't hear, but knew what was anyhow because of that_ stare_ he gave me. After putting his paper and pen back into his coat pockets, Jozef came up to the formation line in front of Barracks 2. He directly went up to me, and not Rob, the senior P.O.W. officer of the camp, and greeted me with enough respect. Jozef, so adult-like, clicked the heels of his shoes together, saluted me respectfully and said with some disdain in his voice, "General Schruss requires your presence, Colonel Michalovich."

I looked from Jozef to Schruss. Schruss, who was enduring Klink's somewhat animated conversation at that moment, yawned and took out some pack of cigarettes, lighting one up as he pulled one up. As he puffed away, Schruss spun around, away from Klink, to return my gaze all through a cloud of smoke. He smiled and gestured that I come along to him, using his right pointing finger. Naturally, I obeyed the silent order, with the aide following fast behind me.

Jozef was able to escort me back when he whispered quickly, "He knows who you are. Be careful."

"As if everyone in Germany doesn't know who I am," I hissed angrily back at Jozef as he arrived with me at the appropriate spot.

Jozef saluted the Kraut general and took his place besides him as I faced the rival alone. I thought of playing nice-nice with him, but I knew where that was going to land me: his bed on an order. I've had it happen before, even when I was here at Stalag 13, so I'd decided to play the aggressor and not the hunted female. _The hunter becomes the hunted_, I thought gleefully as I stood there, in enough attention, for the Kraut anyway. I even had slouched my back noticeably and didn't bother to salute.

Schruss didn't seem to take note of these slight insults and piped up an interesting (to him, perhaps) conversation instead (_How strange,_ I thought). "So, Colonel Michalovich, I have met you at last," Schruss began his small talk, still in the misty smoke he started to blow away so he could see me. "I have never met an adversary so close before. So tell me, how is Russia?"

"I wouldn't know," I said through clenched teeth before Klink could correct him. "I'm from the American Army. I've never been to Russia. I thought you could tell by this uniform."

Schruss ignored my last comment concerning my U.S. Air Force uniform (lately, borrowed from Rob and sometimes Baker, since the Red Cross doesn't send me much). "You must have some idea of what could be there and where we could hit the Russians," he insisted.

_So he wants some small talk. I'll be giving it to him, if he still wants it_._ I'll never betray my fellow countrymen and allies._ "No. If I'd want a better view of it I'd just break out from here and head to the Russian Front," I said frostily, with no pun intended. "Maybe I can have a better close-up of you, too. Or will the other Allied soldiers get there first? I did hear that the Soviets were breaking the Front Lines and heading to Berlin. Wouldn't you want to be there when we celebrate our freedom, especially those in the death camps, from your tyrannical regime?"

Klink and Schruss obviously took all of that as a threat. Schruss' jaw even dropped the cigarette that he was smoking, he was that upset, and his hazy mask disappeared. Jozef was amazed that I wasn't shot yet and was putting the cigarette on the ground out with his shoe's heel quickly and returning to his place in line, next to Schruss.

Everyone else was not amused on the Kraut side, but I knew that the prisoners behind me were in suspense. Finally, Klink yelled after his preliminary shock, "Colonel Michalovich, this is out of line!"

"Shut up, Klink, and calm yourself down. I'll handle this." Schruss was determined to make me pay for my comments. If he thought that the cooler was going to make me crack, then he's wrong on that notion. He went on with his conversation as if I wasn't responding smartly. He started off nicely again. "So, Colonel Michalovich…you seem to have settled down here at Stalag 13."

"Yes, if you want to call this paradise home," I said. "Luckily, I pass unnoticed here until today. I think I didn't fall invisible to your eyes, certainly. I never knew you turned that way before."

Schruss had given the appearance as being slapped in the face. It had him turning redder and redder with this cold water splashed on his face, but he still attempted, fool he is, at trying to extract information from me. "Colonel, this is most…unusual in someone like you. Perhaps you are like your mother more than I had previously thought except I have not had the honor of…well, the relationships with these men must take away the glory of freeing yourself from this place."

"You mean me to come to _your_ bed, General Schruss? Then you are sadly mistaken," I snapped at last, revealing what I knew he wished for. "I suffer no man their pleasure except for the one I love. I have had the enjoyable company of many men here and they are but friends to me. If you wish me to be liberated and sent to Switzerland by this act of kindness of yours, then I'd think you should reconsider what would happen if you had a feisty wildcat in there and nobody to help you nurse away those scratches or the terror you'll be sure to experience."

I heard whistling, laughing and cheering at the rear, and loudest of all was LeBeau. I turned around, almost tempted to bow for the encore I was going to give. I also gave myself a good view of the men around the camp. Like I said, many were amused by their conversation, but I saw that Rob was disturbed. Obviously he was going to yell at me for this goof-off later, but I think just facing down a Kraut general will be worth this war. I've had had enough of Klink, Burkhalter and Hochstetter and to a point, everyone outside the camp on the Kraut side who thought that I was Mother every time I was in a Gestapo uniform. I need some new Kraut to fool around with. Who knows? Maybe I could scramble Schruss' mind, too.

Schruss was becoming angrier as time went on and the cheering from the audience in front of him was probably the worst embarrassment he's ever had to endure. Klink was, evidently, horrified and tried to apologize to the General, but Schruss wanted to try another tactic and this time, it was to scare me. I swiveled on my boots' heels to face him as soon as he started talking to me again. "Colonel, if I told you that I'd be willing to bargain your life and the lives of the men here, would you do anything in your power to do it? Perhaps I had some information involving some prisoners digging and dragging down the German war effort. Maybe they have a secret radio, or perchance they have a way to get out of camp and helping those from Stalags 3, 9 and 16 getaway…?"

"It would also depend on what sources you have," I said much more carefully. Schruss was cluing to us that he knew something about our operation and my neck didn't like that statement. Turning this serious mood into another laughing episode would certainly make my day much improved, so it'll be better to make a joke out of what he said. "You probably received it on one of those one-night stands that has been part of the rumor mill here. Oh boy, General Schruss, you have made the top of the list."

"What list?" Schruss asked with curiosity. Truly he sounded eager to hear what list I was talking about. Either that or that he was interested in what I said about his one-night stands. Maybe I hit the spot when I mentioned it.

"Oh, you know," I said, shrugging my shoulders with great disrespect. "It's just our little list of Krauts that have made the most entertainment during the war. Thank you, _Sir_, you have, beyond any doubt, given the men here something to laugh over in your newspapers." I mockingly saluted by wiggling my fingers as I acknowledged the General and Kommandant Klink.

I was just about to go my merry way, back into formation, when I heard the order from Klink. Schruss was too shocked and mortified by this last comment. The Luftwaffe sentries next to Klink (not Schultz, unfortunately for me) grabbed me roughly and, dragging me, tugged me to the cooler, where I am now. This is how the clever Desertstar landed: in this cold, wet cell instead of that nice, warm bed which I could make wintry for Schruss. I am even missing my bunk right now, but just insulting Schruss, in front of everything, is topping my personal list of favorite military moments. Maybe even this'll go to the crown of my list for favorite moments in this war, and G-d knows there are so few of those.

At least it went over well with the men. And of course, the men were chuckling harder about "the list" as I was being led away. It was the last thing I saw in the weak German sunlight. Even Rob was laughing, or rather, trying hard _not_ to express his amusement and crackling _his_ next jokes at Schruss unless he wanted to suffer the same fate I received.

I also noticed that Rob wasn't the only one attempting to stop finding something funny about these sarcastic comments. Jozef the aide was, amused as he is about this, hiding his face behind the same notepad he was writing in when he came into the camp. When he saw the General's face move to him, he stopped properly, as every aide should, and went inside Klink's office with the German officers, still taking notes.

Are those notes that might have Klink promoted? I should hopefully wish that it wasn't so because then I'd know we'd all be doomed.


	3. In the Cooler Again

Rob came in here, of course, to yell at me. Schultz was watching me at that time and was not assigned the barracks. Instead, he was dragged away by the aroma of apple strudel by LeBeau, of course. So, as soon as Newkirk, who I saw was outside the window and signaling to Carter (who probably signaled to another and on it goes) to give the ok, I heard a stone roll. I jumped in fear again, but knew, as soon as I turned around, that it was Rob. I was, after all, expecting him after all of this mess. I shouldn't be alarmed that someone was coming in here without permission and through the tunnels no less.

"Nikki, what the hell do you think you were doing to Schruss?" Rob yelled before I could greet him and try to calm down that angry ogre. "You could have had him as putty in your hands and now he's an enemy to everyone here, especially you. It'll be harder to get information from this goon!"

I wasn't surprised about his accusations. So I equaled his temper with mine, which is much worse. And I let Rob have everything I was thinking about and more. "What do you mean, 'You could have had him as putty in your hands'? I could have had any man around this vicinity in my hands, even Klink! Schruss is just another one you just want me to manipulate for information and you know that there are newer ways other than using me! I'm tired of this, Rob. I'm just tired of being in someone else's bed and fighting for my reputation like a wild woman. I don't _want_ to be like Mata Hara, I want to be myself again: Nikki. And Nikki is not meant to be in others' beds other than the one that she's been waiting for. Adultery is becoming a thing of the past now and she's tired of it. And you should be too, you and your flirting!"

I don't understand why I went into the third person and eventually calmed down after I said the final parts of my point. At that time, I felt as if a weight was lifted off of my shoulders. Rob knew that I was eager to execute my duties here, but I am so scared of being with other men because he was so close by. I even admit, Paris with Nancy and Duncan was better because I knew that my love for Rob was then unrequited because of our argument and even the distance separated us. Now, I knew that our devotion is stronger than this and manipulating people could have me caught especially if Rob was around me. My feelings could betray everything.

"An agent is supposed to play the actress," Rob insisted irately, "and she has to put everything aside, especially her true thoughts. The things we do for our country –"

"Yes, are not counted but are numerous to the cause we have to undergo," I finished. "But, Rob, everything was easier when we were separated. I don't know what the Krauts are achieving by putting us together. In a way, this has made us who we are right now. This business of you and me manipulating the people of this war is just another chapter we have to close soon. I can't be shaming myself like this anymore. Our cause should be moving along at a much better pace than having one another hop into someone else's arms."

"I know." Rob came over to me and brushed his hand though my loose strands of hair. At that moment, I was glad that my hair was up and out of the way, or else Rob would have messed it up for sure. That, and with a cap, it could have been worse had he thought of the means.

Rob continued. "Nikki, we have more important issues to think about than this. Right now, General Schruss could be calculating his next move. He hinted already that he probably knows about our tunnel system and wants information, just like the last one."

"But obviously, my nephew was sent to him for a reason," I said carefully, not revealing my views and opinions. "London doesn't give double agents a second chance like that. They have to prove themselves worthy of our side and prove it by doing through drastic measures."

"Right," Rob said, "so he has a secret assignment that London gave him. He gave them some valuable statements and in exchange for his freedom, they give him some rein in a mission in Germany. It could have been a mistake."

"Some mistake they've created then," I moaned. "I even don't know where his loyalties lie. And if he's on our side, that's good for him. If not, you know where you'll find him. I'll be taking him out with no regret and I'll be –"

"If he betrays us, then we'd have more to worry about," Rob interrupted as he heard footsteps down the hallway and stairs. Schultz's protests to LeBeau about leaving his duties and eating food were audible from here. Rob hastily kissed me on the forehead, darted for the open entranceway to the tunnels and left.

Before Rob rolled the stone over though, he said, "Be careful with him, Desertstar." And with that, I was alone again, except for Schultz and LeBeau. And they were arguing over where Schultz should have been as I am down here and whether he can have more of the apple strudel or not.

I sighed. _This is going to be a long cooler sentence_.

~00~

About two hours ago, Jozef came in. He was to relieve Schultz of his duties and change the guards for the night, but he stalled the next sentry at the door explaining that he was ordered to interrogate me on the personal order of General Schruss. Of course, the guard to be watching me next, Corporal Lienchenthal, obeyed the teen-aged Jozef. An aide that was disobeyed could put in a bad word to the General and said general could have you shipped to the Russian Front within a blink of an eye.

I got to the point quickly as soon as I knew that we were alone. I wanted my answers and I wanted them _now_. "Jozef, which damned side are you _on_? First, you're on ours being a German agent saying that you needed help, but were really Hitler Youth. And then you kiss and make-up in England. What are you gaining from this?"

"I'm realizing which side is winning finally," Jozef replied, "and now knowing what Germany is all about."

"Ah ha, so now I get it," I said, pacing the cell. "You've had a change of heart?"

"Not exactly what you say," Jozef answered me. He was hanging onto the bars of the cell at that time. "I saw that Germany was going about their climb the wrong way. There is no exquisiteness in watching those innocent people die. The Allied Forces offer more." My neck didn't prickle so I took this as a good sign. He wasn't lying to me, but telling me that he wanted to share in the spoils of the war because Germany wasn't giving them to him. He knew that they were going in the incorrect direction and in going in said direction, have failed their people and those who served.

At least Jozef recognized this at last, but he was still ambitious. This was not unusual in a person his age. However, in war, it's hard to choose the side you want to be on.

"So, you're on our side?" I asked finally, remembering to stop pacing. I must have appeared nervous. At least my neck wasn't telling me that he was the real enemy here.

"For now, I am," Jozef said, "and your precious tunnel system has been sealed by my lips."

"Then how does Schruss know about it then?" I demanded, facing him. I was going to kill him then and there if he said that he did it, even if it was by accident.

"That, I cannot tell you," Jozef said (just as I feared), "but it has been under investigation by Major Hochstetter for a while now. It's been as such since before you came into the picture here at Stalag 13. That is his suspicions and he shares them with General Schruss. That part I can tell you, so be cautious about where you go and what you explode. Tell Colonel Hogan that. But also…you have careful, Flower Aunt. General Schruss knows who you are and he's willing to bargain with undignified means. That was why he was so nice to you today."

"That was what I figured," I said as I approached the jail bars. I was tapping them, just over Jozef's hands, acting impatient to get out of here.

"But now," Jozef continued, "just remember that he's willing to turn this entire camp to the Gestapo if you don't cooperate. He has that power."

"And you yourself have an assignment to knock Schruss off because he threats us and is tracking something," I said, surprising him. I surprised myself to even _think_ that one out within a few seconds (I was even gleeful of the face Jozef made at me). The emotional face then turned to stone. _He has to do better than that if I can easily figure out what he's up to. It took me a while, but I think I hit it true._

"Yes," Jozef said stoically, "it's that person you're holding below that has those plans in his memory about the next counter attack."

It was my turn to be amazed. I was shocked that even Jozef knew this and when I tried to ask him how he found out, he raised his hands from the cell bars, putting them in his pant pockets, and said, "On my remaining honor, I can say that I was asked to attend a meeting that involved this. I was asked to remove Schruss, but it has been difficult, even employed as his aide. He has security at all hours and is guarded with his life. Even at night, he has sentries at his door and in his room. He has his plans handcuffed to his wrist, if necessary. He only has the key and knows the way out of the explosive device that he installed in it. Right now, he has _that_ in the briefcase, locked and ready to explode if tampered with incorrectly. Organizing this for him, I know what's in there and how to get through the traps. They are those the agent has in his mind, so we have to somehow destroy that and him."

"Exactly, but how are we going to do that?" I asked stupidly.

"Oh, just ask your Colonel Hogan," Jozef said just as Corporal Lienchenthal came down the stairs and asked that Jozef leave (he sounded done interrogating me, the Corporal said).

Jozef answered in German that he was done. He tipped his hat to me and said on the way out the door, "It was…nice talking to you. Perhaps we can lighten up your sentence after I talk to the General?" And with that, he was gone, zipping quickly up the cooler's stairs.

Lienchenthal was not amused by being pushed back on his duties. "Prisoner, you are to listen to me or be shot!" he said as he pointed his gun inside the cell. I put my hands up in surrender and backed away slowly. If I had a white flag even, I'd wave it (I wasn't willing to die for stupidity and sarcasm). Yes, this was definitely going to be a nice, _long_ cooler sentence and something I am willing to stay in if Schruss catches us.

Wait, Schruss has jurisdiction here too…damn! Damn that Kraut army!


	4. Idiot Guards and Generals

**October 2  
****Still in the Cooler – 1200 Hours**

I haven't been able to write for a few days because of those brute guards. I didn't have Schultz watching me for a while. Corporal Lienchenthal was a constant presence and a pain in the ass. Apparently, those guards aren't as nice as those trigger-happy ones we had a while back and they just _love_ to point their guns in the wrong direction. Once, I had some guard named Private Polsenhelf (sounds Russian to me, but he denies those roots, saying that he had his Russian father condemned to a labor camp in Germany) shot aimlessly around the cooler.

I ducked (LeBeau was in the tunnels waiting to give me my food so he was safe) and screamed in German, "You would think that Kommandant Klink would approve of this?"

This, at least, stopped Polsenhelf from shooting around. He put his smoldering gun down and said in a cold voice, in German words, "Who would care what the Kommandant thinks of this? He has no heart for this and all this would get for me is a metal and a promotion out of this camp."

I don't think any of the guards, besides Schultz, like Klink very much. I know that it's the same with the prisoners. After all, we do call him Klink the F.I.N.K. with reason.

There has been no Schruss to bother me, too. I know that he would want to inconvenience me in a more private spot, other than Klink's quarters, of course. Like Jozef mentioned, he will compromise our operation and we (Schruss and myself) will talk about this. I just hope that it's not today. I feel drunk. LeBeau had the decency to bring in some wine and some other alcohol that we steal from Klink's supplies. I think I had a little too much because my head is buzzing and sometimes I talk funny without meaning to.

I hope, as well, that anyone who watches me here doesn't realize that, especially Schruss. I would hate to be off my watch when he comes here and taunts me in this cage just as I did to him out in the open. Or will he, this time around, demand through torture, about the tunnel system that Hochstetter is so eager to bare?

Just as LeBeau was going to leave, I handed back the bottle of wine and the other unknown substance that I liked mixing with the wine (tasted pretty damned good, very fruity like punch). I said, "LeBeau, do me a favor and let this age a few more hours. The men in the barracks need it more than I do." I might have slurred a few words because even I was giggling a bit over what I said.

"I agree completely. No more wine for this table," LeBeau said. Then we heard some noise, LeBeau bolting for the tunnel's entranceway. He had left afterward, taking all the food and alcohol with him, because the door opened the in came Schultz again. Of course, after an hour of studiously watching me being drunk (and me not saying a word in fear of revealing what conspired), Schultz slept, snoring away. I was save, for the time being.0

Damn…now, I heard some more noise from upstairs. Someone is coming! Schultz is sleeping still so it'll be hard to wake him up. Oh, G-d, someone is coming down through the cooler and he needs to be poked at. So, I had better get Schultz up before I see –

**Later – Late Afternoon  
****The Barracks – 1650 Hours**

Schruss…I should have _known_ that Schruss was going to visit me after only three days in the cooler. I should have _figured_ out that he wanted to see me when I was supposed to be at the most vulnerable, at my weak point. I think he might have noticed that I was a little drunk, but I never let that disrupt any of our conversation.

I kept alert (I sobered up quickly, my surprise was evident), and he, of course, was totally determined to secure details of our operation and was satisfied to a point because I disclosed some information to him I thought to be, although false, helping us move in a forward direction. I even acquired some new facts along the way from him, things that he meant me to hear, I'm guessing.

I never betray, and I never will. I stand by my comrades, no matter what. But my little false leaks were returned with this freedom.


	5. Information Exchange

I did wake Schultz in enough time to have him conscious to acknowledge his superior officer. The bumbling guard did salute, and was, surprisingly, asked to leave.

"What would happen, Herr General, if the prisoner decides to attack you?" the dubious Schultz asked.

I snorted with disgust. Yeah, I HAVE a weapon concealed in this cell and am not afraid to use it against the one person I want to assassinate (if I _wanted_ to slay Schruss at all).

Schruss' answer, on the other hand, was more than Schultz wanted to hear. Schultz, in my mind then, thought that him leaving the cooler is a good thing for me. He can tell Rob when he reaches Barracks 2 what started to conspire, as Schultz is our stool pigeon at times.

Schruss said chilling words nonetheless. "No, I'll be all right, Sergeant," he answered, flashing his pistol and making sure that I saw it too. "If the prisoner decides to attack me, then she'll receive what she should have gotten a long time ago."

My neck prickled when Schruss said that. I wouldn't diverge with him on his statement. He _does_ appear to be another who would put his own family, not matter how loyal, into a camp if it best fitted his own interests.

As Schultz left in a fearful hurry, Schruss turned back to me, putting his gun away. "So, Colonel Michalovich, is there anything you wish to share with me now?"

"Why should I do that?" I asked openly, backing up and seating myself on the cold bunk. "I have nothing to share with you and have nothing of interest. I am a regular prisoner of war and work and live as such. I have been as such since –"

"Then why were you captured at General Hozellenan's rocket base on the evening of December 5, 1942?" Schruss was becoming livid, the opposite of what he was just a few days past. "Why, then, were you described as a spy to all and not shot as such? Why didn't they just go up and _kill_ you at Auschwitz? Or _why_ didn't Major Hochstetter shot you along with Major Donovan-White?"

By then Schruss was red with antagonism and taking out his gun, pointing at me. I tried to stay serene, but my neck was bothering me. I felt sweat go down my back and knew without saying anything that I was caught in a corner, truly for the first time. Rob was right: this goon needs to be eliminated and we're to help Jozef in all ways possible. Right now, just sitting in the barracks, for the first time since I was captured and sent away, I was truly afraid for not only my life, but those around the camp. With Hochstetter last year, it had been the order of not radioing, going in the tunnels, etc. With the Shadow, it was more of being hidden and having Klink search every barrack with no success and having the fallback of his record of no escapes. Now, it is Schruss. He actually put two and two together and was able to come up with an equation that matched up with another: on Hochstetter's suspicions and his figuring, we could all be dead.

The cooler, for the first time, became quite icy, a chill in the air. I didn't answer Schruss but stayed with the poker face I usually play with when Schultz comes in for his weekly gambling with me and the men. This calmed Schruss somehow, because he put his gun down with shaking hands. I noticed the hands last and was struck with an idea. _He has some mental disorder or is even disoriented_. Maybe this accounted for his way of thinking, but when I saw that he was taking medication and swallowing it quickly then I knew that this theory was wrong because he had some care for it. _We were dead._

The silence, however, was deafening. After Schruss hid his deficiency, he went back to me and asked, "So, there is no answer?"

I shook my head. I knew that anything I said would be considered a death sentence, so I tried sucking up instead of my regular sarcastic remarks and actually told some version of the truth. "General, there is…evidence that I was there because I was ordered to. For me, it was an adventure. I didn't know its contents, but was told to be a guard and watch out for those here. I somehow figured that they were but people on a mission. Just because I was assigned to some group heading into Germany doesn't mean that an innocent fool such as I could have been into espionage."" I paused, thinking of Paris. "The Major and I were just assigned to Paris because it was on a permanent leave. I chose to be in _Nite Lites_." The argument was weak and lacked substance, but it was justified for the time being.

As if Schruss would believe it anyway! He even gave the appearance of being dubious and I knew better. He was acting out, as a character in a movie, to receive what he wanted, just as Hochstetter, Hozellenan and even Hansel and Gretel did. He was acting out another part, just _another_, to get whatever he wanted from me. However, he should know, as every other German in this country, that there is no sucking up to me unless I, too, have to play the same parts.

Through that mask I saw his true face: confused, yet knowing the truth. "So, there is nothing more to this other than being a dupe for the Allies?" Schruss asked with some amusement in his voice. "You were let down?"

I knew that he didn't believe me and I didn't even bother to answer him again. Even if it were true, I knew that nobody on the Kraut side would listen to this nonsense. Me being a guard on a dangerous mission such as H8WC was highly unlikely since it's the biggest skeleton in the cupboard that I am Desertstar. Or, as Rob, the crew and I are trying to do, keep it from leaking to the Krauts and maintaining that, as I use this name, I use it with discretion and with different voices, languages, etc. But in that second silence, I could almost feel my Death coming about. I could almost sense that Schruss was going to pull out that gun again, with his shaking hands, and shot me point blank. He didn't though.

Schruss just stood there, as still as I was sitting on the hard bunk, and stared harder at me. After what seemed to be an eternity, he said, "You still haven't answered me, Colonel Michalovich."

"What more is there to say, General Schruss?" I said, crossing my legs as I sat on the cot. "I have already said what I wanted to say to you." I sighed. "You might say I was a total 'dupe' in that mission – indeed, I didn't know about anything going on – but I am still captured and then sent away, relocated and now, misplaced here. I have resigned to my Fate and already have accepted a long time ago that I am a prisoner of war and that I will remain as such until the end of the war."

"You still have not said anything about my earlier accusation," Schruss said.

"What accusation?" I asked meekly enough. "That we have a tunnel system and that we are spies for the Allies still? No, we do not have any such thing and do not execute any plans. I don't know how many times Colonel Hogan and I have had to repeat that, but there is no such thing as a tunnel system here. How could we operate such a system? Kommandant Klink has probably told you that there is also no such thing as an escape from Stalag 13."

"So he has told me, and told me and _told_ me." Schruss sighed, leaning forward against the cell's cold bars. "But let's say there _was_ a tunnel system. To successfully run one, you would have to order everybody not to escape without reason. Is that so?" His eyes started to twinkle. "Don't you think that, to avoid detection, nobody has to runaway? And, after the fact, someone among the German ranks has to turn his head. So, if such an operation were under construction, wouldn't such a _guard_ make exceptions and let the prisoners deal away with their meaningless lives?"

Schruss figured this out! He really was putting his thinking cap on when he really sat down to ponder the strange happenings around Stalag 13 and what Rob has been trying to keep away from the Krauts!

"That could be so," I said carefully, uncrossing my legs and letting them hang off of the cot. "But there is also an effective kommandant. Kommandant Klink has destroyed my will to escape, as everyone else's. I don't think anyone could hop out of here and, without fear, head back to England"

"Colonel, flattery will hardly save your Kommandant Klink," Schruss said. "I know that there is some strange magic about this place and that it's bringing us down. And that you're somehow using Klink as a disguise to act undercover and use the no-escape record to get through to the other side. And I think you're using Sergeant Schultz as the guard who is looking the other way, wishing all of you no harm."

Schruss smiled. "Of course, Colonel, you know that this is all talk and anything I say could have the two of them brought to trial for treason and shot. On a lighter note, you could be freed before substantial evidence could be brought forth, for you prisoners and your camp managers. Obviously, you know of D-Day this year."

"What is that, Sir? There has been hardly the bit of news here," I asked, again trying to act naïve. "I didn't stop to think that prisoners could have bits of news from their side."

"That is your side's offensive that will kill of the Third Reich!" Schruss yelled with rage, pulling out the gun again. At the last moment he put it back, calming down.

When Schruss was much calmer, he continued. "The Allies have their own little aggression tactic to rid the world of our Aryan Race, declaring it unfit for the developing world today. It is a threat to their society, they have said. And they are taking back what we have conquered through our superior intelligence and skill! So far, they have reached France, but the Dutch lands are still in our domain. There is always retaliation."

"Naturally," I said, standing up and facing the Kraut general as I walked to the bars, "but I don't understand, General Schruss. What does this have to do with me? I know nothing of this and thus, will have no reason to –"

"Well, Colonel," Schruss pulled out his gun again, interrupting me, "I think it should involve you and Colonel Hogan completely. The project we have for your side is called the Eclipse Plan, something even the Führer approved of. An agent of yours, in fact, was spying on us and managed to memorize it. He was heading in this general direction and has, for some reason, _disappeared_."

Schruss smiled again, totally scaring me, but continued. "I could easily tell you about this because you, Colonel, are supposed to be a prisoner of war and not telling a single soul. If not, you are to be doomed anyhow. Now, if I know you and Colonel Hogan right, if you had this operation, then you'd reach this person and get him off to London as soon as possible. Am I correct?"

"I wouldn't know," I lied, crossing my arms, "since such an operation does not exist."

"Let's say it does." Schruss was then getting on my nerves, quite literally, and I wanted him to leave (I was becoming angrier as he continued with his correct assumptions). "Now, with a no-escape record, and perhaps a tunnel system, then you can get this agent out with an elaborate plan. For us, that means disaster and the Allies will defeat us again. I'll even admit it, Colonel, the war is favoring your side, but there are ways to reverse this sudden change. There are…other…ways to reverse this stroke of luck."

Then, Schruss' question popped up again, for the third, or perhaps the fourth, time. "So, my little Colonel Michalovich, I'll repeat this little inquiry. Are you ready to tell me a little something that could help you get out from here?"

I sighed and knew what he meant. For the time being, it'll be the cooler, but then if I play up to him, then I can go to Switzerland until the end of the war with whoever I wished to come. Either that, or Schruss would wish me in his bed as every other lady he fancied and ask me for more and more information. It was the same game I played in Paris.

At that moment, I didn't think of something. So instead of the usual silence, I came out with something to have Schruss thinking. I blurted it out, the only playing card I never pondered beforehand (hopefully, it'll work to our advantage later). "General, what if I said the agent you were searching for _had_ been in reach for the Luftwaffe and that they had him?"

"What do you mean, Colonel?" I swear that Schruss' eyes were shining again. That blue twinkle that bothered me at first shone with anticipation. This was his chance to fall into my insane lie, and to be frank, it excited me.

"What I mean is," I continued without the excitement in my voice that I wanted, "the prisoners might have seen what you were searching for. Maybe this agent exchanged some information with the Luftwaffe and was on his way elsewhere."

"Are you telling me that our agent has been switching sides again and has _run off_?" The lie didn't seem quite outrageous, but it was out there. It even surprised me that Schruss was amazed by this lie. As if he believed the first one! If he believes what I said, then we have a chance of getting this agent out, for real.

"That's enough for now," I said. I walked over to the cell's doorway and put my hands to the bars. They were cold to the touch (it was kind of getting chilly in the cooler). "General, when I think of it some more, when I _remember_ more, then I'll hand it over…if you know what I mean."

I almost purred in his face, but restrained this manipulation. _I'm not Mata Hara, but Nikki Michalovich. I am one person, and not another. I am engaged to Robert E. Hogan and NOT free to play a slut to another._

"But of course, Colonel. It is stupid of me to forget to release you!" General Schruss then called for Schultz who stood in the doorway at the top of the stairs.

As soon as the bumbling guard came down, that Kraut ordered me released. And so here I am in the barracks waiting for Rob to wake up from his nap and for the crew to be done with their chores around the camp.

But I will always remember the chilling words Schruss said to me as I walked out into the daylight with Schultz. "Colonel, do not forget your end of the bargain. I shall see to your agent soon enough." My neck prickled with fear as I broke free from this two-person formation with Schultz and ran to Barracks 2. I had no intention of answering Schruss or of looking back at the cold cells.


	6. In Comes General Witte

**October 5  
****The Barracks – 1341 Hours**

So much has happened in the past couple of days that I don't know where to begin or can even pick a starting point. There has been too much to comprehend and consider!

I can begin here, I think: Schruss and Witte, I can admit, have been annoying to say the least and have provided us with more obstacles than before. We know the facts: our agent has vital plans that need to get to London before the week is done. Schuss has been hinting at arresting us because of spying. He believes that we are holding the agent. Witte and Schruss had shared mutual feelings for each other (hate). And, most complicated of all, is that there is no possible way to get the agent out of here even with my little scheme in mind. Rob said it was possible, and the two meetings I had, one with each general, proved it. This says Rob, the same who can twist anything and mold it into another thing.

It doesn't help that Hochstetter stopped by for a while before being dismissed back to the Hammelburg Gestapo Headquarters by Schruss. That just makes everything worse no matter what we're scheming in the barracks. And it doesn't matter that he (Hochstetter) was here briefly.

It was only yesterday that Witte called me. I knew somehow that he wanted to talk to me and not Rob. Usually, it is the senior ranking officer among the prisoners. Gladly will I let Rob bargain and barter for the freedom of the men and the execution of all of our plans by stating vague and/or complex details. This time, as usually the time of which I am always involving myself fully in a plan, I am stuck talking with Kraut top brass. This was no exception because I knew that Witte was no idiot. He has his information and needs more to put the pieces of the puzzle together and _we_ are the missing piece.

Witte just called me from the barracks to talk about, of all things, Schruss. And me, unaware of this until his aide came into the barracks, was just sitting calmly and doing whatever regular prisoners of war do. I mean, all I was doing when that aide came in was knitting socks for some of the men (a hobby I started again because of Newkirk, out of everyone in the camp, after a mission a few months before). Witte's aide, some captain, opened the door without knocking and just grabbed me, without detection, from what I was doing because of my concentration elsewhere.

It was the commotion that followed, as everything flew from my hands, that created hostility in that damned captain. I was about to fight back, but a gun to my head answered the struggles I was giving him.

Rob came out as _Herr Captain_ (the stupid ass) was dragging me out of the barracks and demanded what was going on. Of course, the idiot dropped me on the ground. He passed through the doorway and shot someplace in Rob's general direction, I didn't know.

I regained my composure as the Captain did such, from what I could recall, and looked to see if anyone was shot. All the men were on the floor and covering their heads (a habit, thanks to Schruss and Witte) and nothing indicated that someone was hurt. Then I saw that Rob wasn't moving. There was _nothing_ to say that he was shot though.

Movement from the floor told me that Rob wasn't shot. I breathed a sigh of relief and was about to get up, thinking that the Captain had forgotten about me, when said captain brutally picked me up again. I didn't bother to fight him again. I knew what the dire consequences were going to be if I did.

As he herded me out the door, I heard Rob calling (LeBeau was at his side, most likely helping him up). "So, Captain, I never knew that a woman knitting was such a threat to the Third Reich."

The Captain did answer with a sneer though and it enraged me (I was standing up this time as the idiot let me go, so he didn't have to drop me). "Colonel, you better feel lucky that I decided to miss you today. General Witte needs this woman for information."

"There isn't any doubt about that, Captain," Rob answered. "Is there any reason why?"

"It is just as I said, Colonel Hogan," Captain Whoever answered, drawing his gun again. "So you had better keep out of this. This is just considered a business call from General Witte to Colonel Michalovich here."

And with that, said idiot shut the door, shooting the door behind him to ensure that he had his share of victims today. I shudder, even now, that he could have hit one of the men and killed them, but he didn't. He, whoever he _was_, meanwhile, guided me to the guest quarters of the camp, to where Witte was waiting. He was brutal, for sure, and did his duty well. It's an admirable trait, I guess, even in the Kraut military.

All my thoughts indicated panic and my neck was straining not only from the rough hands of this brute but also from the danger I knew that I was going to face. _What did Witte want from me? And is he putting on a show with Schruss just to prove something to him _and _us? What's going to happen afterward if I gave the wrong answers?_

~00~

Tea was being served to Witte by Schultz just as his aide dropped me off in the dining room of the guest quarters. I noticed that the table was only made for two people and that I was the guest to this general and not the other way around. I was not going to be interrogated, but that Witte is treating me as a human being, something I was rather surprised about. Then again, he too wants information, so this was another way to receive them, via being hospitable and spotless in conscience, somewhat.

The Captain, meanwhile, clicked his heels together and, to grab Witte's attention, he said, "Herr General, Colonel Michalovich is here."

"Thank you, Captain Kurtz," Witte said, but added in German (he doesn't know, since he thinks that I'm Russian, much as Schruss mistaken earlier). "Was there any trouble from Colonel Hogan?"

Schultz, who finished his duties to Witte and stood off to one side, had chuckled lightly, knowing what they meant, but stopped suddenly and went on his merry way out the door. He, too, knew his place among the top brass.

The chilling way that Witte said it created a shiver down my spine and a prickle in my neck. Worse was the aide's – Kurtz's – response. "There was a little," he answered back in German, "but I wish that bastard could have left her alone. He asks too many questions and involves himself in much too many things. There are many strange things about him, General, and I wish I could have ended it there instead of miss hitting him in the head."

"You can have your target practice later," Witte said in English, and then turning to me, indicated that I be seated as I was just standing there. "Colonel, sit please. And please excuse Kurtz. He has had distressing news as of late. _We_ have much to discuss."

Shyly taking the seat opposite of Witte, I sat down as ladylike as I could just as Witte dismissed an eavesdropping Schultz (who lingered in the doorway) and a still-angry Kurtz, both of which went out the door, a satisfying _click_ at the door giving us privacy.

Then Witte started and he started vaguely enough even to infuriate me. Getting to his purpose gave him some points with me, though. "So, Colonel Michalovich, tell me about yourself. Surely you come from Russia. Please, explain how you came here, a woman of your standing."

"Do you mean Stalag 13?" I tried to turn some circles, too. I might as well start confusing him too. According to my neck, this character is someone not to be taken lightly. So, to stick with the lie I gave to Schruss in the cooler might help matters a bit. Trying to phrase it to Witte to please him was another story.

"Yes, Colonel," Witte said, with some boredom in his voice. "Please explain to me how you came about to a place like Stalag 13."

So, with the tea that he offered to pour for me, to show what a pleasant gentleman he was, I explained the same story I said to Schruss, except with more details. I said that I was a nurse working in London (I didn't mention which army) when ordered to go to Germany, was stuck in a nameless camp and then sent to Stalag 13 to fill some status quo.

Witte gave me the same consideration that Schruss had and listened to me with such attention (Witte was leaning forward _just_ so) that I swore that the German cross across his neck was going to drop in the topless teapot.

When I came upon the tearful and useless slaughter of Nancy, he stopped me. "I know that, Colonel Michalovich, the Gestapo has their reasons for executing criminals of the State, but you have to accept this death. You cannot brood over it forever." Witte leaned forward more and patted my hand, as if to comfort me.

_He was trying to suck me into something and this is just another gesture_, I thought as I smiled at Witte and accepted this strange comfort. Oddly enough, I did feel better about this. It is not enough to say that the pain is gone. It'll always be there but the way that Witte was going about this situation was creating a comforting unease in me that wouldn't leave me.

Of course, keeping the alarm down was a problem for me, but I think I acted it out well enough. All I had to do was wait patiently for his next inquiry. Kurtz did say, after all, that he needed his information and that I was vital to achieve it. So, I sipped my tea calmly enough with one hand and waited for Witte to stop this affection on my other hand and he did eventually. It just took a few minutes for him to realize what he said doing and he apologized severely for it. It was as if he knew what he was doing, but then overdid it and not know about it.

_Goodness me, what a happy general we have here!_ I thought sarcastically as Witte kept repeating his, as I consider it, now-famous line of "I didn't mean to do it."

"It'll be fine, General Witte," I said, putting the delicate china down. "You can stop this now. I know that you didn't mean to do it. All I want to know is –" I laughed a little before going on, "– what you need from me. Captain Kurtz had shown all signs that this was going to be an interrogation and not a tea party."

I turned to the window at the right of me and listened to Witte chatter away about how he just wanted to get to be familiar with me. For me, though, this was another sad occasion, if only brief. I looked out at the heartrending prisoners picking up garbage, and felt guilt. I was in here, they were out there, and I was in luxury while they in rags. _But what ties us together is in situations we have to place ourselves in everyday_, I thought as I gazed my eyes around the frame of the window…and then I saw it. I thought it was some ribbon of some sort, but the thin black features it had threw me off. Black was used for mourning and not for everyday ornaments especially in guests' quarters. The tradition is the same in Germany as well.

By then, the buzzing from Witte ceased and he was following my eyes to the window. He saw what I was staring at. "What is it? What is it?" he asked, anxious as a child on Christmas Day, as I stood up and went to the window. The thing I thought to be a ribbon was a wire, as I figured out when I fingered it. I followed it up and found a hole from where it went out.

It was just as I figured: a wire that led to a live microphone. Someone was spying on us.

I followed the wire the other way and found what I feared, that tiny piece that told the others on the other side about what we were saying. But fear was replaced with relief as Witte and I were only talking in causal terms. Even if Schruss was on the other side, he would have known my story anyway, no matter how much more useless details he received. However, if this was Hochstetter's work, then he's recorded this and can use it as proof against either me or Witte.

I didn't know what anybody would have against Witte, but from what I have gathered already, he's a cleverer man than I had thought previously. Of course, he wasn't clever enough to figure out that he was being watched. Somebody knows something that I don't and they want something out of Witte.

I was being used by all sides and I didn't realize it until then. I was a tool for more than one person.

I was fuming inside and knew the same anger seethed into Witte too except for a different reason. I sensed him behind me and felt him push me aside lightly as he took the microphone into his hands. Then I heard his words, something that I'd have rather cautioned him against. "Schruss, if that's you, you had better stop this, you animal! I know that you are spying on me and that you are lying about this! You –"

By this time, I had stopped listening to the raging Witte and concentrated on something else: what Witte was doing and what was to happen next. Sure, he's the Kraut we want for the job, but if Schruss links it to us then he has to be demised before he gets to us. And I am a most willing person to complete that mission whether or not it is Jozef's duty to London.

One more thought, too: what about that file Witte threw at Schruss when he arrived here? What does it have to do with us? Or does it at all? If not, then why is it here at Stalag 13?

The next thing I remembered was Witte breaking the wire apart and yelling for Kurtz and Schultz. As soon as the pair entered, both alarmed for once and saluting (I was gloating silently over the state that Kurtz was in), Witte issued his orders. "Sergeant Schultz, I want you to search, piece by piece, this entire quarters and report to me if there is any microphones!"

"Jawohl, Herr General!" Schultz said, saluting again and beginning his search, excusing himself as he went around me.

"Kurtz," Witte exclaimed again, causing even me to jump, "you are to inform Kommandant Klink and his damned Gestapo company that I need to use his office. I don't _care_ if General Schruss says that it isn't necessary. I cannot have a simple meal without people intruding! He should have to put up with leaving the office for a few moments."

"Yes, Herr General," Kurtz saluted calmly and went on his merry way.

Witte then turned to me at the window. "My dear, Colonel Michalovich, shall we leave?" he asked me as Schultz went around me again to investigate the curtains and the window frame further, following the same wire that Witte had just destroyed.

I shrugged my shoulders politely enough and took Witte's arm which he has graciously offered to me. And with that we followed Kurtz, who was outside. As we saw a few minutes later, he was arguing with Major Hochstetter in front of Klink's office. Schruss was in the Klink's office window, grinning as I turned to face that way with Witte barging by the two arguing. Whatever it meant, it created another prickle in my neck and an urge to run off in the opposite direction.

_But I am Nikki Michalovich, a colonel of the U.S. Army, not Mara Hara…I am an officer and a gentleman. I am Nikki Michalovich, and I am engaged to…_


	7. Interrogation

It was not a pleasant scene in Klink's office.

Kurtz had taken his argument with Major Hochstetter into Klink's office, where Helga was filing paperwork. Witte had pushed me onward with him and since I was attached to his arm, so I was still listening to two incompetent Krauts screaming at each other, plus a general to add to the noise. As Witte overrode Kurtz and took over the fighting with Hochstetter, he ordered Kurtz to go into Klink's office and order everyone out, including General Schruss. In doing so, Witte had released me from his imperious grip and had let me roam the outer office freely.

Helga had, by then, tranquilly seated herself at the typewriter and was typing out whatever Klink wanted her to. On her desk, I noticed, was a copy of the same file that Witte had thrown at Schruss when he had arrived beforehand (I knew it was such because it still had CONFIDENTAIL painted across the page and even in that same handwriting). As Hochstetter and Witte moved their noise to the inner office, to where Schruss, Kurtz and Klink were, I quietly shut the door behind them and grabbed the file, only to have Helga stop me as she swiveled in her chair, swatting my hand.

"Colonel Michalovich, you should know better. This is General Witte's file and he asked it be filed with Colonel Hogan's," she said sharply as I rubbed my red hand.

I sighed with frustration. This was not the time to bargain for goods and most certainly not between two women who can get into a worse fight than that of what men can do. But then it registered in my mind that she said _Colonel Hogan_ and it had to go into _his_ file. So maybe Witte knows more than I had thought.

"I do 'know better'," I answered smartly and yet _so_ politely, "but you know that the filing cabinet hasn't been fixed in months. There is no point in putting anything in there."

Helga sighed at me. "I know. Colonel Hogan keeps coming for more. Your operation is in danger enough as it is." She whispered the last sentence hastily. Helga especially was careful as there were people around. She and I almost jumped seconds after her sentence as we heard someone yelling and then a gunshot. It was common these past couple of days since Schruss and Witte love to have duals. I wasn't too worried…then. But I knew that our lovely secretary was.

"I can tell, by the way Schruss is going about things," I whispered back, "but if I could steal it and then give it back to you if the need arises, then could I have it?"

"Not until you promise me something," Helga said.

"It'll be anything, since Colonel Hogan owes you everything else," I said automatically.

"He still owes me three pairs of stockings and a bottle of perfume," Helga said with an almost laughable pout. "Just for you though I can make it two pairs and the bottle."

"I'll throw in the next two pairs for this one file as soon as they come in from the Red Cross," I said as I took the file into the deep depths of my jacket, "since it'll be saving all of our lives. I might have to cover Colonel Hogan given that he never receives them in the Red Cross packages." I jumped back when I heard another gunshot and said, "Thank you for everything."

Helga jumped out of her seat from all of the noise (she was _very_ frightened) and then seated herself back into the chair saying calmly enough, "It's no problem, just as long as I get those stockings and perfume."

I laughed and then, almost as suddenly as this mirth came upon, gasped as the door opened suddenly revealing Hochstetter. My neck prickled.

"So, Colonel Michalovich," Hochstetter began, "do you mind answering some questions for me and General Schruss?"

Behind Hochstetter, I saw Jozef, still taking his notes and recording all that is around him (and oblivious to everything else, but I knew he was trying to hide being sick for I saw some green tinge to his face). Behind Jozef, though, I saw a pool of blood, and knew that it was Witte. I noted that a Gestapo guard was also putting his own firearm against Kurtz's back.

I gulped, knowing that soon I might be doomed soon. The file was still snuggled safely in my jacket and anyone who searches for it won't find it until you took it off or dug in deeper to find my prized object of that hour (and I hope that it wasn't going to be found anytime soon).

Then and for the remainder of the time I had to spend with these people, I had to remain calm and serene and stick to my story. Maybe I can develop it more. I mean, Witte's aide Kurtz can't say a word against me unless he wants _me_ dead, along with him.

From the outer office, Hochstetter grabbed me and slammed me in a chair just in front of Klink's desk. I heard the papers inside my jacket rustle (even if Hochstetter heard them, he could have mistaken them for Klink's). Klink was, obviously, ordered to ignore the gross and ghastly scene in his office across from him as he shuffled through paperwork from Berlin. From the door behind me, the one that led to Klink's quarters, was Witte, hanging from the ceiling from a hook that I could tell was recently put there (it explained the banging and the shooting). His head sprouted a hole squirting blood, put there by the local hangman Hochstetter or his goony guard.

Schruss flanked me from behind as Hochstetter closed in from behind Klink. As Klink looked up, Hochstetter shot him a glare so vicious that even I'd wither. I had not seen Hochstetter shoot such a look, but I was sure to have more of it in the future if I didn't give him what he wanted, much like Klink does.

Klink, in turn, took the hint and got up. He said, "If you gentlemen would please excuse me…"

Klink then went to grab his coat and hat from where Witte's body hung and went out the door, grabbing Schultz at the door, who just came in and was about to report to Witte about the microphone situation. Now, there was no living Witte to report to. And with Klink gone, Hochstetter and Schruss can kill me and then blame Klink for his lack of commanding skills.

As that Gestapo guard of Hochstetter's shut the door to block anybody from viewing this single murder, Schruss ordered that Jozef record everything and _anything_ that happened in this office and whatever was being said, no matter how minor it is or how vague and silly my responses are.

When the order was acknowledged (Jozef only nodded his head), Schruss and Hochstetter began their much-wanted interrogation. Schruss started with, "So, Colonel Michalovich, do you deny that you were with this traitor, about an hour ago, and discussing the _exact _circumstances of which you came here? Do you deny that you yourself are a spy here for the Allied Forces?"

The questions were intense, quick and like lightning. Hochstetter didn't hear a peek come from my mouth immediately afterward, the immediate second after Schruss asked me the question, so he hit me. In my defense, I can say that I didn't have the time to reply to the damned question and didn't blurt out the first thought that came into words. It would have caused me more trouble than before.

"Answer the General!" Hochstetter yelled at me.

Wiping my mouth where Hochstetter hit me (a few drops of blood were on my lower lip), I spitefully answered. And that time, I didn't bother to be nice. "Geez, Major, if you'd stop hitting me like that, maybe you'd get where you'd want to be." I knew that I was brave enough to say those words to my most-feared enemy and anticipated death as a result of being saucy. _Rob doesn't call me Miss Saucy Tongue for nothing_, I thought with regret as I stoically waited for the next move.

"Insolence!" Hochstetter yelled. "Colonel, do you realize what you are throwing away?"

The Hangman of the Stalags was about to give me another blow, but Schruss put his hand to block this, a gesture I thought kind until I heard his words. "Major, maybe Colonel Michalovich would wish to be alone with me to talk. If we were a little more…welcome to her, maybe we can receive what we want, just as she expressed to you. Besides which, the Hammelburg office needs more of you."

Schruss' smile haunted me, and it still does, only yesterday did I see it. I was saved from Hochstetter for that moment, who I know is fuming in his office in Hammelburg at this time. A general had ordered him back there as if he didn't receive his piece of the action, something I was sure Hochstetter was eager to have.

However, Schruss was just as worse.

So, with his usual babble about heads rolling, the fearsome Hochstetter left Klink's office, motioning that his guard come with him. Kurtz was left here too (I had almost forgotten about him until the moment Hochstetter), but Schruss spun around before Kurtz could leave behind Hochstetter. Schruss grabbed Kurtz and pulled him in the chair next to me in an action so quick that even I couldn't follow it with my eyes. _Schruss must have had more practice than Hochstetter_, I thought. _He's gotten Kurtz into that chair faster than our own Major Hochstetter did to me._

The door clicked closed (quiet for Hochstetter, who usually slams them) and therefore Schruss could have his way. I knew that my turn was up again and that Kurtz's was later.

"So," Schruss began, "we have more details about the _amazing_ adventures of our Colonel Michalovich. She is so vague. Perhaps, _perhaps_, we shall have more details about her and her mentor. The Gestapo has their reasons, Witte says, and then she reassures him with her seductive behavior. She has sense, style and caution…she also has no damned army to speak of even!" Schruss banged his fist on the desk so hard that even Kurtz flinched with fear, the first I had seen compared to his brutal behavior beforehand. I, meanwhile, was silent and didn't bother to move because I knew what it would mean.

"Answer me this, Colonel," Schruss continued to address me. "What do you plan? What are your aspirations, other than dealing with this traitor? You know that there was information you owe _me_. What is it about Witte that attracts you to him? Or does it happen to be that _he_ is on your side after all?" Schruss went over and kicked the swaying corpse (it was low enough for Schruss to do so). It was making me sick.

"I have none and have already told you about the agent you are after," I said with some tinge of anger in my voice (I was feeling nervous, as I was using Witte in the lie from a few days ago). "The Luftwaffe general here sent me a message a while ago and said that he was coming. That was all. He was coming. He mentioned something in his note about someone of great importance that was to come in this area, but nothing more."

Kurtz was about to protest this statement, weak as it was, but failed to because Schruss was giving him a stare much more threatening than Hochstetter's was to Klink just the few minutes previously. Instead, Kurtz surprised me by saying, "Now, General Witte is just another starman waiting in the sky."

I was shaken. _How did Kurtz happen to know this one code?_ Sure, the Krauts must know a million of mine, since it being dangerous to say anything to any agent, but just randomly trying to fit it into the pieces of the puzzle here just shocked me beyond words. Does he want me to trust me? Was the scene in the barracks just an act?

Kurtz even went on. "I would have liked to known him better, but his mind has been blown unlike ours."

"And it would be so if you'd just shut up with your nonsense, Kurtz!" Schruss turned around and hit the aide across the face, causing him to topple off of the chair. "Some German officer you happen to be! Stop using some code and talk like a normal man. This isn't some meeting with the Underground!" Schruss laughed. "You know what happens to traitors like Witte here. Yes, he is no longer to be addressed as a general of the Third Reich, but to be spit upon. He is among the dead. No, he is worse than dead. He doesn't deserve it." Schruss spit on the body. "So, the former officer had been interacting with Allied prisoners. Tell me, Colonel, do you happen to have these letters in your barracks?"

"No," I lied quickly, knowing there is no such thing. "I burned them immediately."

"Then why tell me about them?" Schruss thundered.

"Because I want something more out of this war than you thought," I said quickly, much too quickly (_Nervous again old girl?_ I thought). "I have been playing a game of survivor, General Schruss, and you above all should know this."

"Indeed, I do," Schruss answered thoughtfully, calmer than before. He then looked to Jozef, giving him a look that asked how he was doing with writing everything down everything that conspired thus far. It seemed kind, full of understanding (almost fatherly, but it sickened me to think of Schruss that way), as if Schruss had some compassion for his young aide.

Jozef, I noticed, was still quiet in his corner. His nose was still buried in the notepad. He wrote more furiously than ever, and before long, he was finished and up to the present moment. He looked up from the pad at last, his pale face, no longer green with sickness, his face radiating some hope for me. His hope even calmed the feelings in the my neck.

All right, so I determined that Jozef is to be trusted, but what about Kurtz? Nothing said that I shouldn't trust him and there are also reasons not to. Any Kraut could just pop that out and it could be a coincidence. There MUST be reasons why Kurtz said that and it may not be to tell me that I was to trust him. The more I thought about it, the more confused I was about it. My neck indicated nothing, so I presumed trust. But I knew _never_ to presume anything.

Schruss seemed finished with us though and the interrogation was over for the time being. He ordered Kurtz to be commissioned to be in his interests alone and to resign from Witte's offices (those who work for Witte's offices would have to forfeit their positions anyway). Kurtz is not to switch services, but to merely be a puppet to Schruss and act as a spy, as if he had a choice in the matter anyhow. I was, meanwhile, dismissed to the barracks.

I was never happier to be going back to the barracks and still carrying the file. In finding myself alive (it seemed to be like a dream, so surreal it was), I ran out of the office as normally as I could. I knew that Jozef was behind me, but was being watched too (Schruss' eyes were protruding from Klink's office and Kurtz was behind us, going in a different direction), so that instead of following me back to Barracks 2 as he wished to, Jozef went towards the direction of the motor pool and then switches his route to the cooler, running in a circle and going back to Klink's office. It was like Jozef was out the door to observe on me for a split second and then to report back to Schruss.

Rob and the others have to get a load of this file before Schruss, and not Witte (the rightful owner), finds out that it's missing.


	8. Who is Who Here?

I sat down at the main table in the barracks wordlessly for a long time before speaking. The men were asking me what happened in the office, since they were listening in on the coffeepot, and I said, "Please, let's just wait a few. I have important information here that everybody needs to hear."

I don't know how many times I had to repeat that, but it would have been the millionth before Rob came out of his quarters. He appeared grim although he did manage to sit down across from me at the table and asked, "What did you manage to grab that has had all the men talking?"

One of the men, Private Ricks, was watching the door and Baker was by the window (its panes are fixed now, by the way, and hopefully, it'll not be broken into again) so it was safe to take out the contents. "Only this," I replied, carefully taking out the file that Witte brought with him and laying it down on the table.

Rob's eyes almost bugged out of his sockets but he kept a straight poker face nonetheless after the initial blow. "Did you have any trouble?" he asked.

"No," I said, "but we do owe four pairs of stockings and a bottle of perfume to someone special in the office later on."

Rob smiled mischievously, blushing, and said, "They didn't see this missing?"

I sighed. "No. Helga was told to put this in your file so Schruss might miss it right away unless he wanted to see it and inquired about it. She said she didn't bother to put it away because the cabinet is always broken and nobody fixes it." I heard Baker snorting, with sarcastic innocence, by his station at the window.

"Wait," I heard LeBeau coming up from behind me and seating himself next to Rob. "Are you saying that this folder was supposed to go in Kommandant Hogan's file?"

"That was what Helga said," I replied. "I don't like the sound of it and didn't have the chance to open it and find out what was in there either. Schruss and Hochstetter were hot on my tail. Hochstetter, though, was sent back into town. Schruss was being pretty nosy and accurately outlining our operation. I guess he didn't want to share with Hochstetter the spoils of the discovery."

I heard a door open following this last statement and I tried to cover the folder, but Rob stopped me. It was only Newkirk that Ricks let pass by and not a Kraut guard. I relaxed and noticed that Rob took the contents from me and was anxiously flipping through the file as I gave it up.

"I got what you wanted, gov'nor," Newkirk said as he went over to Rob, handing over someone's identity papers. "He didn't notice a thing."

"Good," Rob answered, studying the paperwork in front of him and then the identity Newkirk had just handed to him, laying the paperwork on top of the pages of the folder. I looked at it and seeing it upside down didn't hinder the identity (the file was not my interest at the moment). I saw that it was Kurtz's identification papers.

Rob stared at it for a few more seconds and then handed it to Baker, who had come up at the rear (his station was next covered by Carter) and grabbed it. Baker then disappeared in the tunnels via the bunk's entranceway, intent on some assignment. I thought that perhaps Baker was to do a check on this person, but I doubted it. Kurtz is a Kraut and a damn suspicious character, too.

"What was that for?" I asked Rob. "What does Kurtz have to do with this?"

"Because our lovely Luftwaffe captain may also be someone from our side," Rob answered me, contradicting what I was thinking. "We heard him talking in Klink's office and it got me thinking."

"Any Kraut could have said the codes, though," I pointed out. "Or, are you more thinking of what if he, too, is intent on a mission?" I still don't trust the person any better.

"Like what?" Carter asked, sitting next to me and ignoring his station. Rob then gave him a hard look. Carter knew what it meant so he went back to the window.

"Well," LeBeau said, "maybe he's on some mission to get rid of someone and is hiding something from us at the same time."

"Or maybe," Rob said, "he's on the same mission as our friend Jozef here. Perhaps another agent is out to kill the next general who has plans to destroy _us_."

"How do you 'igure, Colonel?" Newkirk asked, sitting down next to me, where Carter was previously.

"Well," Rob said as he fingered the file on the table, "I was just skimming though this. And everything it has pertains to our operation here at Stalag 13. Pictures, diagrams, missions and everything we have destroyed, killed or sabotaged. It is all here. But there is not a soul here who can tell us _where_ Witte happened to grab this information."

I sucked in some air and let it out with a loud _whoosh_. Rob was right. Where Witte had received this information wasn't available. There was not a prisoner who was transferred out of here in the past few months and no spies that we have found inside the camp itself. Jozef will swear up and down the aisle that he was in London. Besides, he probably doesn't know who Witte was personally until recently.

Suddenly, my mind's wheels were turning and thoughts were everywhere. _Perhaps Jozef might know, however, that Witte was going to be annihilated by Schruss personally because of the closeness of their professional relationship. _Schruss had received _his_ information from somewhere about this (and not from Witte either), so he probably dropped a contact around us to get the truth. For all we know, the spy could be in London and I, for one, cannot afford another trip to London to uproot a spy.

_That_ was a possibility, but the odds were nil. His spy had to be someplace in Germany that could have passed the information to him and possibly still does keep an eye on us. And the only person who could link Schruss, Witte and this whole mess was Kurtz, the one spy that I don't _want_ to deal with but there was no choice.

There was silence in the barracks as if they, too, knew all of this. Baker broke it as he came up from the tunnels with what Rob wanted to hear. "Colonel," he said as he handed the identity and a list back to Rob, "Captain Kurtz is really an Allied agent, H21, as they call him. His real name is Captain Charles Letterman of the 319th Bomber Squadron. London said that he was sent here on a mission to assassinate Witte because he had the details to our operation through a German spy. It was as Rumey was ordered to do, except with Schruss." Baker whistled. "Witte was also in an enemy of Schruss' and the information says that the two competed against each other for favor."

"But w-was there a way that that S.S. general knew about the tunnels?" Carter asked from the window.

"It was Witte," I said suddenly, going off about the thoughts beforehand. Everything just came out at once and the clouds seemed to be parted as I said them out loud (and Kurtz was out of the picture, seeing as how he's on our side). "If the two had had a history together, like Baker said, then one could gloat to the other what glorious information they received. Witte probably had a contact that worked with us, one that we can't pinpoint yet. He saw this layout of the operation and took his pictures and detailed his report. It's a nice ribbon on top of the present."

I was getting excited. "Now, if Witte and Schruss had some meeting – maybe a week before Witte's appointment with the gunman and the noose – then one could have slipped about this and the other went to investigate it. The 'other', Schruss, wants the glory because he hates Witte. Witte must have come here to kill off Schruss before Schruss did it to him. The two excited each other with the gunfights, until today, when Witte was killed."

I stopped to breathe before continuing. I was _too _excited. "Witte ordered that this file be joined with Colonel Hogan's to hide it from Schruss, so that when Berlin reads his reports, Witte can be credited with the capturing of Allied prisoners spying on the Third Reich, whereas Schruss, the S.S. general who is also in league with the Gestapo, is in the dust. _That_ was why he wanted to talk to me. It was because he wanted the information I thought Schruss had beforehand, and does, because he might have had contact with Witte's spy. Witte thought so, too. He feared it because he knew it first and might not have the credit he wanted. Witte is dead now, so Schruss can take this file, read it and prove what is in it is true. Then he could write his own version of things and the history of how the Stalag 13 operation was found and disabled and its volunteers shot. He can be the one who can execute us in person even."

"It's in all possibility," Rob replied with an indistinguishable skepticism. "And in any case, we should be prepared to flee."

"You mean escape from here?" LeBeau asked, shocked.

"Yes," Rob said, "because if Schruss catches up to us, then it's the firing squad for us."

The men were excited. We are to escape and going to back civilian life! What a day it is for us! There was chattering as to what each is to do with his life when returning to London. They were not thinking about what he could do to prevent it. We were supposed to stay here until the war ends unless our lives were in danger. But, are they?

I knew that there was much more we had to do before leaving. Rob was thoughtful and remained silent, still among the prattle (the pickets at the window and door were released and Carter and Ricks were talking with animation about home). I, meanwhile, tipped my head to one side, giving Rob across from me my most defiant stare. It was only to create some laughter in that stone face, but there wasn't even as much as a smile from him. I personally believed that he was getting better at ignoring me.

Then I thought about what can be done to stay here to finish our operation out and to last it until the end of the war. Maybe we could make this file disappear. If Schruss exposed us more, then Jozef can finish his mission. _That is what we should do_, I pondered. _We need to stay here for as long as we can._

I said to Rob, "Colonel, you have another plan in those turning wheels or are they rusty?"

"Oh, no, Colonel," Rob answered me, sitting up straighter. "Your nephew has to go through with his original mission and we have to do ours."

"But how do we get the agent back to London?" Newkirk asked as his thoughts of seducing beautiful birds was shattered within a second.

"Can't we have another contact bring him to the sub?" LeBeau asked immediately after Newkirk (his plan of girls and delicious food was probably foiled, too).

"No," Rob said. "The orders are to get him on his merry way and his way has to be solo. There is the risk of the Gestapo. And I think I have an idea…"

Those others in the barracks groaned. Not only were their plans to escaping this paradise disrupted, but they have another Colonel Hogan plan to participate in. The men gathered around the table and Rob explained what he wanted done.

So far, we have a general outline of this new plan. A prisoner (Rob named Carter) needs to escape from here and someone is going to report it, most likely someone from our barracks to Schultz and then Schultz to Klink. Through this confusion, the agent needs to escape and chaos is the perfect camouflage to what is really going on since the crisis at hand is vital to fix. The agent needs to be disguised obviously, but we can't use Klink's car to hide him. That is why he is going to be disguised as a German guard except the guard we're using is going to be one that we're going to put into a sleep. LeBeau has his capsules.

Of course, that is not all. Rob is going to offer General Schruss a dinner, cooked by LeBeau, and we two colonels are going to be there. As our prisoner escapes (Rob then decided that Newkirk is going to join Carter, as he opened his big mouth and asked why only Carter), LeBeau is going to help switch their guard for our agent and hide the sleeping body. Our agent goes out with the guards (Klink too, who goes out when there is a prisoner escape) to search for Carter and Newkirk and heads in the opposite direction to London with his identity, money, fake paperwork, food and maps. The guards find the prisoners and bring them back.

Since Klink is busy, we can distract Schruss at the dinner and then head him off to the Underground stations to rid him of his troubling threats or Jozef can carry out his mission and kill him. But the major link in this is Kurtz and whether he can help us or not.

That is what I am to find out tomorrow. I'm going to have to talk to Kurtz and create an excuse to because of how closely Schruss is watching him. I think just fighting with him and ending up in the cooler for a time can work because of his position. Well, there's Schultz. Maybe we can have some seclusion there since there are no microphones there anyway (I know that since we debugged them all).

Step one of the plans has been played out and we threw out the first card because of my quick, stupid thinking (well, it got Schruss away from us). Schruss has his information on why the Luftwaffe supposedly had the agent in the tunnels. Now, it is our turn to find out if Kurtz is willing to fulfill not only his mission and ensure the safety of this operation. I mean, if he was man enough to act like a Nazi, then he can act the part of the Allied agent for us. I am sure of that, unless his mind now accepts Nazism.

Damn, I have been writing for too long again. I am so stiff from sitting here but relieved I wrote it all down! It is almost 1600 hours and Schultz is expected to come in here though and make a head count, so I had better stop. Tomorrow is what I am counting on. Let's hope that Kurtz will side with us instead of cowering in a corner and continuing as a Kraut. He can escape if necessary. We have the means.

Whatever it takes, the Eclipse Plan cannot be unleashed on the Allied Forces. And this confidential file cannot be put into Rob's file in Klink's office.


	9. Plans to Search and Destroy

**October 6  
****The Motor Pool – 1200 Hours**

The first part of the plan has been completed. Kurtz is now a part of this little scheme of ours and we have devised a plan to get him out of Germany after our agent. He has no way out of this anyhow and is being watched carefully in all sides. Even if he wanted to continue his spying in Germany and weasel his way out of it, he can't as even London ordered him back this morning when they heard where he was.

As I am sitting here, watching LeBeau, Newkirk, Carter and Baker clean, wax and fix Klink's car, I think about this morning when I had my talk with Kurtz in the cooler. Of course, he refused to be part of some plan when he was being watched, but he even admitted that dinner tonight hides what it really going on (it doesn't help that he's also a spy for Schruss and formally an aide to a traitor). Kurtz being a spy for all sides added to the many reasons why he shouldn't be in this scheme after it expands. However, I had the advantage and the higher officer rank. I must admit, pulling rank on him wasn't the best course after his refusal and I had the other course of persuasion (London) and nothing more. We need him _now_ and London needs him back at Headquarters.

I did cause some anger in Agent H21 at roll call this early morning, 0600 hours. As usual for the last few days, Schruss and his cronies are to inspect each barrack in the roll calls and the men that stand out in the cold. Since Kurtz was ordered to become a part of Schruss' little group, he was required to join in the inspection tours in the morning. He was being watched and purposely assigned to our barracks. I think that was why he was around Barracks 2 this morning checking the inside and pulling out anything that prisoners are not to have (as this has happened many times, we notice that certain luxuries that Klink allows us here seem to disappear when the guards check the barracks).

Anyhow, the part assigned to me by Rob was to somehow insult (in a minor way), in any way I deem appropriate, Kurtz and have me end in the cooler for an hour or so. It would be enough time for me to talk to Kurtz and for Rob to persuade Klink that we need a special dinner, and for that I should be released from the cooler and allowed to join the feast. Then, the next steps of the plan can be played out.

And so I did it. As Kurtz came out of the door of Barracks 2 as we stood outside in formation, I stuck my foot out from behind to trip him (as he was walking behind the formation) in the mud puddle, the last one not to be frozen. Since I was at the end of the line and nobody was behind me, the blame could obviously, and without any doubt, be put on me. And that was what I wanted and what Kurtz realized as he went into a huge mud puddle.

I love to see a Kraut seethe when he's been insulted. This time, I felt some guilt as H21 is one of ours. I know, I know, this is supposed to be part of Rob's plan and it did proceed, as it usually does. Laughter did ensue after he tripped and the finger (literally) was pointed immediately at me by Kurtz.

Schruss, who had just come out to see if there was an escape this time, saw an angry Kurtz and raised his hand to stop his ranting. "Captain Kurtz, what is the matter with you?" he asked with his sick smile. "Did the pretty little colonel finally insult you?"

"Yes!" Kurtz screamed, grabbing his gun, and thinking twice, put it back. "And I do not tolerate this type of impertinence! I demand that punishment be at hand!"

By that time, the laughter from the barracks around camp ceased, and through this silence, Klink came out behind Schruss. He knew what happened and addressed it at once. I rolled my eyes as he said, "Colonel Michalovich, you have just insulted a German officer!"

"I'm sorry, Kommandant," I said with a smile. "You know I didn't mean to do it. All I wanted to do was stretch my legs. Captain Kurtz just happened to be behind me as he walked." I snorted with all the senior Krauts cringing and continued. "It wasn't like I _wanted _to destroy his uniform, anyway. His mother probably did a lovely job in sewing it together and cleaning it."

Schruss wanted to shoot me and I knew it (his blue, blue eyes told me so). With Jozef behind him still writing, he ordered that I be sent to the cooler, the second time this week. Schultz _tsked_ as I went by him and finally Klink, who snickered and tried to hide it from his superior officer. I don't think he liked what conspired in his own camp these past few days.

While a guard grabbed me, I turned around and smiled at Kurtz, who calmed down quite a bit. Roll call went on and the men laughed again at my gross reply. _One step down and there is still quite a few more to go_, I thought as Polsenhelf, the guard who grabbed me, dragged me to the cooler.

~00~

Two people visited me in the cooler, the first surprisingly being Jozef, who ordered that Polsenhelf leave. The second came in close behind him (Kurtz, obviously). Jozef has reached me first and just as he was about to say something to me, with his whole body against the cold bars, Kurtz came down.

Kurtz was, to say the least, angry to see that a personal aide of General Schruss got there first. I knew that he was still steamed about placing his loyalties elsewhere in this game, but he has to deal with this. He's on our side, and so is Jozef, and he has to work with us.

"Rumey, you have no business down here!" Kurtz thundered.

Kurtz was about to grab my nephew from outside the cell, but as always I have the final word. "Captain Kurtz, stop this nonsense now…or should I say, Captain Letterman, Agent H21? You have no business telling someone from our side what to do and where he should be."

Kurtz stood agape. Jozef smiled in triumph but this was no time for one to gloat over the other's scolding. No, we had to work together. "All right, you two," I said, "get over here."

As the two obeyed me, I started. "Listen, we have to get someone back to London alone and you two are going after him." After Kurtz began to protest this and refuse any part of it, I stopped him cold. "Captain, I am a colonel, and _you_ are following my orders, no matter what _you_ want to do. It is also London's orders that you come back to Headquarters. It just came this morning through the radio."

Kurtz was silent. I was even surprised that I pulled my rank on him (so was he, I can tell). He hesitated and he spoke to defend himself as Jozef was still wallowing in glory. Kurtz fought what he wanted against what was ordered and honor to his country won out. "That's fine, Colonel Michalovich. What is the plan you have?"

"So nice of you to ask me," I said with sarcasm. "You know I tripped you in the mud for a reason. I had to give you your orders and this – you are going to help us. The aide here is going to help too. You cannot knock him out of the game because he has his own assignment and it happens to target Schruss."

"I was supposed to assassinate Witte after taking him to London and taking the damned file he created," Kurtz said with some woe in his voice. "Major Hochstetter got there first. I should not have let him go in there because now, we have no information from him to give to London except _for_ that file. And I'm sure London wants us to destroy it fast."

"Wait," Jozef said, "you were to take him as a hostage and bring him to London?" He was truly amazed. German generals usually get the death sentence from London if they threat us severely and the action had to be immediate.

"Yes, Witte was supposed to come back to London and be put to trial for treason and also, crimes against humanity," Kurtz said with regret. "He used to be on our side, but defected towards the beginning of the war and tortured Allied soldiers and agents. The verdict was surely to be guilty and his execution was going to afterward."

"We can't help that now," I said. "We have bigger fish to catch and if necessary, we can hook them too." Jozef grinned, knowing its reference. Kurtz didn't grasp the big picture.

"Captain Letterman," I continued, "since we can't have Witte, we can nab Schruss. As I know it, Colonel Hogan is persuading Klink to get me out of here. I need you and Jozef here to help. We are distracting everyone here with dinner and a few escapes. While Klink is gone, we can get rid of that file, Schruss, his briefcase contents and whatever else there is."

"He has a briefcase? What does it include?" Kurtz asked eagerly.

"Something that can destroy the Allies Forces, so it doesn't concern you," I said quickly. "That is Jozef's job: to destroy it by acting like a Nazi again and going back to London, preferably with Schruss dead and the briefcase destroyed."

"That briefcase can mean the end of the war," Jozef said. "If it's gone, then Germany is behind in the war for months. They might be gone with it."

"Exactly," I replied. "So, here's what I need you both to do, and listen carefully. It's very simple and you can have your way in doing this."

The men leaned closer to listen to me. "Jozef, you and Captain Letterman here – Kurtz, I should say – are going to join us for dinner tonight. I know that we'll get in because Klink caves in on anything Colonel Hogan can use for blackmail. Jozef, now, you are to help get Schruss to the tunnels since you obviously know where they are. Kurtz, I am presuming that you know of our tunnel system, but have no idea where we hide it?" A nod from Kurtz made me go on. "Captain, if Jozef told you how to get to the briefcase, can you demolish it?" There was another nod. "Good, Captain. That is where your assignment in Germany ends. You are to save our side by setting a torch to that briefcase. Afterward, you can get Schruss to the tunnels following Jozef, but you have to get back when Jozef heads him out. Whether or not Schruss is executed, you all are going out the emergency tunnels after our chief package gets out."

"Wait, you have someone to smuggle out of here?" Jozef asked in disgust. He was clearly annoyed with the other little details of the plan.

"Yes, we do," I said, almost slapping Jozef for not paying attention to me when I said it beforehand. "He is important to this too, so don't be angry. Now, we have the file Schruss is looking for –"

"You mean the one of your operation?" Jozef interrupted me.

"Yes," I said with irritation in _my_ voice, "and if Schruss doesn't find it here, then he'll search for it in the barracks. Let me tell you something, it is hidden well."

I said that to confuse Jozef, just in case he is tortured for information by Schruss no matter how exact is it. I also knew that it wasn't going to be true for any longer. Rob was going to burn it as soon as possible, on orders from London (well, they didn't say who was going to do it, so Rob volunteered himself). "That is why we have to nail Schruss when he _wants_ it, before he has the chance to _think_ about grabbing it." I paused. "Although your duties are light here, they are important to this operation and to London."

"Colonel," Kurtz said after a lengthy silence, "the dinner and the escapes, I must admit, are the perfect distraction to achieve what we want, but Schruss might suspect something and risk everything he has. I know my duties here are over too, and I request, even though you are not my commanding officer, that I leave. I now realize the danger and know my work is needed elsewhere. There are other places in Germany I can work in. I know my way around and –"

"Your request is denied, Captain Letterman," I said, but with those petty protests on his lips, I contradicted him. "Agent H21, you are the most cunning agent we have here and London cannot afford to miss you like all the others that have sacrificed themselves for the Allies. When they order you back to a desk job, consider it a compliment. Trust me: I would prefer that over being here in a prisoner camp I can easily get away from if there wasn't work for us to do."

"Then why don't you just escape?" Kurtz spitted out spitefully.

"Because my life's duty demands I finish this," I said, "and so does this call for you to complete your mission in Germany. Captain, you're young and have a life ahead of you. Don't cut it short by playing the hero here. Follow what London says and get out of here and that's a _direct_ order."

"Yes, Sir," Kurtz said (never correcting himself by calling me "Ma'am").

That was the end of that. Kurtz left, morose, with Jozef right behind him reminding him of his duty as a German officer. I laughed, knowing how strange it was for Jozef to say that. I sat down on the floor, happy that my mission in getting the two to work together was complete, and waited for the call to get out of the cooler.

Polsenhelf did come back irate before my way out and almost shot me because it was my fault that he was dismissed for the second time from his post. Then an idea struck me as Polsenhelf started his ranting. I think I'll ask Rob that Polsenhelf be posted as the guard to switch. He's such a pain that I'm willing to get him transferred out of here and to the Russian Front. If that was what he wanted, then he'll get his transfer out of here. He did say he wanted to get out of Stalag 13, right?

~00~

Within the space of an hour, I was released. And here I am, supervising the washing and fixing of Klink's car, which, to my delight, will be having trouble in the woods as Carter and Newkirk run for their lives and Klink and his guards chase them. That much I can predict.

Oops, here comes Rob. It's time to get ready for the dinner. It's 1300 hours already and, with a sigh and a slightly wet journal, I shall retire to his quarters for a nap, pipe up a discussion on what was said in the cooler and jump into the kangaroo suit that London sent to me last year.


	10. Going to Dinner

**October 9  
****The Emergency Tunnel – 0147 Hours**

Kurtz and Jozef had just left through the emergency tunnel a few minutes ago without the file, the briefcase and Schruss, all of which are gone and never to be seen again, the latter because of me. The Eclipse Plan is no more and shall never be released upon the soldiers that are still heading here and marching without thought that they'd all die.

The long journey from the motor pool to here, being along in this tunnel and very guilt-ridden, is as if it was all a dream. Never in my life, I will admit, did I ever come face-to-face with the person I will eventually kill. This is why I am here and not above celebrating at yet another job well done. Yes, it was a job well done, but there was another killed in cold blood. I, for one, do not consider it to be revenge for what the Shadow did to Kinch. I am guilty about this but feel as if somehow, I can redeem myself because again, the scale has been tipped and we are uneven. There is always something that will sooth me and tell me that everything will be as it should, but it isn't.

It feels as if that day, when I left the motor pool, I felt so innocent and carefree, as if I were that to begin with. I was thrilled that another mission was underway and solved mostly, but never _resolved_. This event, no matter how much I hated Schruss, will be embedded in my mind as the day I murdered someone and not helped them as I have vowed so many times and in so many different places in different times of my life.

Indeed, there was no nap in the quarters, but I did discuss with Rob what Kurtz said in the cooler. He, too, knew that Kurtz was hesitant in leaving Germany because of his fascination with the country and thrill of being an agent everywhere he went. However, Rob also knew that it was time for Kurtz to split because the Krauts might be on his tail.

"Kurtz played the part of a Kraut officer so well that he even identifies himself as one and doesn't remember anything else," Rob said as I was hanging his and my dress uniforms on the laundry line to dry in the Colonel's quarters.

I nodded as I pulled out the clothes pins that I had been holding out of my mouth. I pinned down my laundry. "He plays the part _too_ well," I said. "Even when he came in here first and dragged me to Witte's quarters, he seemed to have acted out upon his own conscience, as the German officer, and not the one that he had originally as an Allied officer."

Rob was about to open his mouth to further this discussion, but had not time to reply. By the time I finished with my sentence, we heard a knock on the door. It was Baker, who pushed the door open a little so that all we could see was his head. "Colonel," he said (he could be addressing either one of us), "there is someone here to –"

The door swung open fully and revealed not only Baker, but Jozef, who interrupted our radioman without meaning to be rude. He appeared to be distressed, to say the least, and with this notepad gone, my nephew looked naked. I almost laughed at the scene.

Jozef talked to me in German, fast and furious that I didn't understand him at first until he repeated himself a few times, seeing my confused face. "Flower Aunt, Schruss has been searching the filing cabinets for the outlines of your operation in the file that General Witte brought with him. He has become angry that it isn't where it was supposed to be and he's harassing the secretary about it through his charms. She isn't taking it, though."

I quickly translated for the baffled faces that were now gathering around the doorway. Rob defended quickly, "Helga wouldn't tell Schruss a thing about where it is."

"Yes," I said, "but he's liable to blame us for it and have the prisoners shot. And I don't think it matters that he finds it or not, just as long as he has someone to blame and that someone are the prisoners and not Klink or any other German officer."

"W-what do we do now, Colonel?" Carter asked as he popped his head through a mass of men that were now engulfing the Colonel's quarters. The room was becoming hotter and was much stuffier than I remembered it to be, even when it was summertime.

"We should play it by ear," Rob turned into the commanding officer and one of his famous phases can into play once more. "Schruss shouldn't be barging in here wanting us dead for no reason. It'll cause the S.S. to be taken worse than they're viewed already, especially when Schruss unintentionally creates martyrs out of all of us. It doesn't help _us_, though."

"The dinner is an excuse to confront us," I said. "He's taking it as such as we are, using it to bail our agent out of here and save the operation."

"Right," Rob said, "so prepare to escape, all of you, if necessary. That is _only_ if Schruss is willing to play the game of cat and mouse. If so, he doesn't need too many mice to play with him – only two colonels. The signal is as follows: if, in Klink's quarters, if the Colonel or I happen to pace five times by the front window, or if you happen to hear shots, then take it as the signal to flee. Otherwise, the plan goes as scheduled. Carter and Newkirk, you both escape using the emergency tunnels and hide in the usual places. If nobody gets you out by…" Rob looked at his watch and continued, "…2100 hours, then find Klink and Schultz and give yourselves in. And that's an order."

"It gives enough time for Klink to go after them with the guards and enough time for us to get rid of Schruss," LeBeau said over the crowds of men (I didn't see him, though).

"Yes," I said, "and it also gives enough time for our agent to escape."

"Which guard are we happenin' to use?" Newkirk asked as he pushed his way past Jozef, who was a bit confused by all of the voices around him. There was too many for comfort and I think being in a prisoner of war camp in England makes Jozef a little more nervous than if he were with just a small group. I think it's only an issue of space. After all, our camps are just as shabby as those here in Germany.

"I have one in mind," I said before Rob could answer. "So we better make sure he'll be assigned to the job. And I think we'll just need Schultz to help us organize that." And indeed, _one_ Kraut guard was going to be in the center.

~00~

The uniforms were dried, so we colonels ready to leave for dinner at 1930 hours. Schultz came in to escort us to Klink's quarters as he felt obligated to come along. I was a lady, after all, and even though Rob had his arm entwined with mine, Schultz felt as if I needed _another_ person to take me to "the dance." Klink had, indeed, suggested a gourmet dinner, as according to plan, to Schruss and because Schruss was tired of the mess hall fare (so was I and I miss LeBeau's fancy meals), he accepted with great enthusiasm.

Jozef and Kurtz were to be there as well because Schruss asked to have his aide and the new member of his staff to be at hand when dinner was served (or, to witness his possible confrontation to us). I think that Schruss had meant that he wanted to watch Kurtz because, even since Witte had been murdered, his eyes have been in places Kurtz has toddled minus the cooler visit (I might have thought he spied on us too, but I wouldn't have a way of knowing). I wouldn't know if he trusted Jozef or not because that child has his nose in his notepad every time I turn around and doesn't say much. Schruss doesn't exactly have his eyes on the aide, however, so I am hoping that the professional bond between them is strong.

When we reached the outside door to Klink's quarters, Schultz left to keep guard, but this was the phase in which I was suppose to tell him that we needed Private Polsenhelf to keep guard. Flattery, of course, works well with Schultz. "Thanks for taking me to the dance, Dad," I teased Schultz, my loose dress uniform almost flapping in the light breeze that ensued. "I'll be sure to tell you if my date touches me."

Rob laughed, but Schultz wasn't _that_ amused. _Perfect…it's giving him a very authoritative mood._

"Jolly jokers," Schultz said, scoffing as he went his way. He stopped about a few feet away from the gate and started that march of his, back and forth, back and forth…slowly, with small steps, and at the end, stopping and turning around ceremoniously. It was routine for him.

"Hey, Schultz, I didn't mean it!" I said, causing him to stop mid-step. "You know, the camp's Sergeant of the Guards should have a little fun once in a while. You're supposed to be off-duty tonight, right?"

Another light wind was whispering in my ears this time, warning me of disaster, as I heard Schultz answer me. "Yes, but Kommandant Klink asked that a guard be posted outside here in case of monkey business."

"But you didn't tell him _which_ guard he has to have out here?" Rob asked.

"No, but I feel RE-sponsible to be out here," Schultz said with misery in his voice, making that sadness well-known. I can feel pity in my stomach for the sentry, but I also knew that it wasn't the time to swim in Schultz's gloom. This was the time to get him off-duty and to discredit another for sleeping _on_-duty.

"Schultz," I said, "why don't you appoint another person to watch the post, since Klink doesn't know that it was you that was standing out there? You look tired. Go get some well-deserved sleep."

"Yeah, that does sound GOOD," the fat sergeant said, yawning with this observation.

"Private Polsenhelf never had any experiences doing this sort of thing," Rob suggested innocently enough. "So why don't you order him to come here and watch the door?"

It took a few minutes of silence and dubious looks to Klink's quarters, but eventually, we heard the scampering of feet to dirt. It never sounded as sweet in our ears as Schultz took off to station another person to the post. I was, in the meantime, happy that phase two was going as planned. Dinner and the escape are the next phases and if they went well, then we can sleep easier at night (as if we slept at night, anyhow).

Rob opened the door for me, the perfect officer and gentleman that he is, and let me in just as Schultz was yelling at Private Polsenhelf to move his ass and get to his post at the gate of Klink's quarters.

My eyes, as I entered, were blinded by the brilliant lights that illustrated the quarters, and, as the prisoners (waiters for the night) weaved themselves to and fro, we seated ourselves around the overly-large table. Kurtz and Jozef sat to either side of us colonels (Kurtz was to my right and Jozef to Rob's left). Klink and Schruss faced us from the other side with their blue eyes (Schruss next to Jozef and Klink next to Kurtz).

As wine was served to us and dinner slowly behind it, I thought, of all things, what Major Hochstetter said when I had first arrived at Stalag 13, and it seemed appropriate at the moment: _So the game begins_.


	11. Her Neck Creaks

Dinner was, as usual, with its original jokes, stories and talks. I mainly stayed quiet and kept to myself (I didn't think my sarcastic remarks would help the situation any). I did notice that Schruss stared at me throughout the salad course. As I stabbed a small, and somewhat wilted, tomato with my fork, I returned his stare and smiled, woman-to-man. It was warm and friendly (he even gave me the same kind of grin, mysteriously enough) and from a distance, it appeared as if we were friends and willing to corroborate amicably with each other. Deep down, I knew that Schruss was fuming about the missing file.

When Schruss resumed eating his dinner after taking his eyes off of me, he knocked over the salt shaker on his left with his elbow, causing the glass container to shatter as it hit the floor. Private Kerins and Sergeant Usher, men from Barracks 7, ran immediately to clean the mess Schruss left on the floor. His small oops went almost unnoticed, for even Schruss said of it as it was being swept away, "You know, everyone has made their mistakes by missing their minds somehow, misplacing a part of them that has decided to lock up temporarily. Maybe this was a part of something that I've missed. It seems as if everything that I've wanted, even the ones that I put away safely, is gone."

Rob turned to me as I took another sip of wine. It was an innocent swivel, but Schruss, I could tell, knew that it was something else and that something else was the worry both Rob and I had: Schruss knew that we took the file that Witte had compiled. I don't know if Schruss did knock over that shaker on purpose just to say it or not, but it didn't matter. He knew much more than we thought and we were dead if we didn't move quickly enough.

Kurtz and Jozef (without his notepad and his wine glass to his lips) were on the line, too. They had missions to complete. For their part, they remained quiet for the whole session, laughing at jokes and eating only. I knew that they were nervous about this mission.

As the salt shaker was replaced and the dinner progressed, Rob kept looking at his watch. We arrived for dinner at around 1935 hours and the escape was to take place at 2000 hours. LeBeau was supposed to be out there with Polsenhelf, knocking him out and replacing him before that time. But because he kept working in the kitchens nonstop, he had no time. Then, I knew that I had to do it if they were nobody else. I had to find some excuse to get out of my seat, though…

"I must compliment the chief for this," I said randomly after Rob cracked a joke and the laughter subsided. "This is the best meal I have ever had. He needs this praise as much as we needed this dinner."

Everyone at the table laughed. It was a simple woman's wit and not the men's bawdy jokes that kept their eyes sparkling all evening. "So ahead, Colonel," Kurtz spoke up for the first time. "Tell him that I thank him for this meal as well."

"I will," I promised as Kerins pulled my chair back for me. I walked as normal as possible to the kitchens instead of heading into a frantic run. _Nothing_ seemed to be working to our advantage.

Inside the kitchens was another story. I opened the door to a disaster. "Those filthy animals!" LeBeau sneered as I walked in, men from different barracks scurrying to the cook's will and dodging pots and pans that LeBeau was throwing about in his anger. I stopped LeBeau before he crashed one of Klink's precious china pieces, but the anger level didn't seem to disappear.

"LeBeau," I said as he picked up a pot and aimed it next to the window, narrowly missing it, "we need to get Polsenhelf off-duty and switch him. So you have the time to do it?"

"No," LeBeau said, taking another pot and slamming it. "Baker is busy in the tunnels and Carter and Newkirk are waiting to escape."

I looked at the clock in the kitchens – it was 2005 hours – and proposed my idea. "LeBeau, do you have the wine ready?" I asked.

"Oui," LeBeau said, roughly handing me a glass from the counter and spilled some to the floor and my hands.

I smiled, despite the rudeness of our chief, for this was going to be my sweet revenge for Private Polsenhelf. _Another insane Kraut gone, the better we'll be off._

I turned to the man at the back door, Sergeant Titan, a bulk of a man from Barracks 15 (quite literally). "Sergeant Titan," I addressed him. "Go and get through to Baker and have the agent ready and dressed. Private Polsenhelf will be saying night-night in a couple of minutes."

"Yes, Ma'am!" the British accent caught me off-guard as the man (a former football or rugby player, I'm guessing) ran out the door. I ran out the door after him except in the opposite direction, to the front gate of Klink's quarters. And there I found the poor, _frail_ man guarding the quarters out in this cold.

Polsenhelf was obviously irate with me for intruding and held up his gun at me until I pulled out the white flag: wine. "Private Polsenhelf, I have something here for you," I said as he started to take aim at me.

As soon as Polsenhelf saw it was only me, he put the gun down. "What do you want?" he sneered.

"I have only a compliment from General Schruss," I said, handing Polsenhelf the wine glass. He looked at me an amusing manner, only to come up with lightning speed to me, take the glass and gulp it down in ten seconds flat. Within the next two, Polsenhelf was out like a light and there was no one out and about to tell the Kommandant that it was me who put him out.

The moment Polsenhelf went down, Baker came up from behind me with the replacement. I had never taken a glance at the agent before and was taken back that he was young, _very_ young, like twenty-one or so. _They get younger as the missions keep coming_, I thought as I saw Baker drag Private Polsenhelf in the back of the kitchen where he'll be found by some prisoners as the dinner escalates. I picked up the gun that Polsenhelf dropped and handed it to the agent, leaving him to his grim duty. I didn't think he'd have trouble with his assignment.

Within the next minute, before I could cry in the unjustness treatment of children in wars, I ran back to the kitchens and back to the dinner. The alarm had, by then, sounded for a prisoner escape and I knew that I was needed elsewhere. I may not be accused of helping prisoners escape – I had no time, logically – but I had to help Rob, Jozef and Kurtz with the next parts of the plan.

I got back to dinner with the rest, all staring at me with quizzical faces. "What took so long?" Jozef asked me, wiping his mouth with a napkin.

"The French seem to be so emotional," I said as I sat down. "I had to stop the cook from weeping with joy from this tremendous meal. He was throwing his pots and pans in triumph." I knew that it was a lie and so did everything here minus Klink, but it was enough to suffice because of the explanation of the dishes being thrown about.

The next part of the plan came perfectly, although it took Klink a few minutes (it seemed like _forever_) to know something was wrong. As I seated myself back at my seat as the alarm continued to sound off.

Klink was, of course, oblivious to what was going on until he looked up from his meal. "It's a prisoner escape!" he said as if he was enlightened with some revelation. Running for his coat and hat behind him, Klink went on to say (yelling), "I must rally up the guards! Schultz, there has been a prisoner escape!"

And with that, it was farewell to Kommandant Klink. We did hear Schultz going out from the kitchens (he must have snuck in there after I came out), recruiting the guards just outside the quarters and yelling at them to get into the trucks.

It was the moment of truth.

Schruss was calm as Klink left. He finished his dinner soon enough and was talking neutrally about the weather and the war in general. Once, Kurtz commented to him that the war was progressing finely for Germany and the two debated about the strengths and weaknesses of Germany, which was a dangerous topic. I was personally bored with this and turned to Jozef. I winked at him and smiled, signaling that he start his assault on Schruss, in any way that Schruss didn't see as harassment and then coming from the back.

Jozef nodded his head, and getting up from his chair, he went towards the kitchens, saying, "I should see if the cook has any dessert." It took a few seconds and it was enough time to cover up his lie. Jozef then came out and said, "It'll _just_ be in a few minutes," and, as he came behind Schruss, he pulled out his gun from nowhere and said, "This general is getting his just reward, though."

Schruss went to turn around and disarm him, but Kurtz lunged for him first, locking Schruss' wrist with his hands and knocking over dishes in the process. Schruss was trapped and ready to be taken prisoner, it seemed.

As Kurtz took out a pair of handcuffs out of nowhere and snapped them on Schruss, I smiled. Everything was going as planned, but something was bothering me: my neck again. _Dammit, what is it now?_ I thought as Schruss was pushed at gunpoint out the door.

"You'll never get away with this!" Schruss yelled as Jozef kicked him forward. "There is Polsenhelf, and he can –"

"You know, General," Rob said, "the guards are all elsewhere and, knowing them, they probably went out to drink or sleep." There was no laughter in his voice, sarcastic as he was. And so, out the door Schruss went, angry with this conquest.

Jozef was ordered to tie him up in Rob's quarters and, when the time was right, knock him out and herd him down the tunnels. If necessary, kill him as his assignment wanted him to.

My neck creaked again at the order and I started to panic. Something was not right here, and knowing Schruss, he'll somehow plot his revenge and fight back. At that point, it wasn't the time to think about it, though. Kurtz was out the door already, with the warning not to open the briefcase unless he wanted to go off in pieces, and to leave it for Jozef to decipher or give directions about when Schruss has been safely tied up.

Rob and I stood agape as this next step unfolded itself. After a few minutes of silence, I asked, "So, what do we do now?"

"Does a game of cards sound good?" Rob turned back to me, with a deck of cards in his hands. I laughed. We had to pass the time somehow as Schruss was being tied up and Kurtz grabbing the briefcase. A quick game didn't sound so bad.


	12. To the Barracks

Rob and I were finishing up our version of a quick gin rummy game when Kurtz came back with the briefcase. The thin case shone brightly in the light in Klink's quarters. It was in there that held the crude schemes the Nazis created to end the war for the second time. Kurtz was smiling with triumph. However, the waiting was not over by a long shot.

"What do we do now?" Kurtz asked Rob as he laid the briefcase on the table on top of the dirty dishes.

_How appropriate_, I thought as Rob answered, "We had better –"

"Get back to the barracks!" LeBeau had suddenly popped his head into Klink's quarters from the kitchens, out of breath and in a panic. My neck told me about the danger. Then I knew, somehow before the words were out, that Schruss escaped.

Rob sat up, knocking over his deck of cards, and went to LeBeau. "What happened?" he asked as calmly as he could, but I knew that Rob was edgy. He was even biting his lip, a habit I knew that he never could break even if he tried.

"Baker just came in through the back, Colonel Hogan," LeBeau said with fury. "Schruss held the barracks up at gunpoint until they told him where the tunnels were and went down into the tunnels with his aide."

"What?" I stood up quickly, knocking over more than the rest of the cards, but also some dishes Klink valued. I'll get his lecture later. "He held up the men in the barracks and forced them to show him the tunnels system?"

"Oui," LeBeau repeated, "and he took the aide."

Even though LeBeau had said Schruss took Jozef through the tunnels, the fear in me didn't register until that moment I heard it a second time. _He took my nephew…he took my nephew…_

"Let's head out," Rob said, grabbing me as he ran out the door. Kurtz came along with us. LeBeau grabbed the briefcase from atop of the dirty dishes and ran out the back door of the kitchen, intent on joining us later on. I don't know if Rob gave that order or not (I could not hear a thing), but we were out the door in anyway. It was time to grab the creep and save the operation.


	13. Almost a Massacre

The barracks were a mess by the time Rob, Kurtz and I arrived. The mattresses were thrown everywhere and ripped apart, trunks were scattered next to their belongings and the men were afraid. All at once, they yammered about what happened and pointed to the tunnel's entranceway at the bunk, which had been brutally ripped open. Rob was quick to answer their pleas for a solution. He was still dragging me in the direction of the tunnels, its way open for us as if Schruss was waiting for someone to catch up to him. I didn't realize what was going on, the time from going to Klink's quarters to the tunnels being a blur, but I do remember heading down the ladder to view a wrecked radio room.

Baker, who had just popped his head out from the tunnel heading to Barracks 5, walked over and I saw that he was relieved that it was only me, Rob and Kurtz. From the shelf behind him, he grabbed a trio of guns from our supplies and handed them out.

"Did you see where Schruss and his aide went?" Kurtz asked, tucking the gun deep into his German uniform.

"No," Baker answered quickly, "but the agent with the plans was able to get out safely. Klink didn't notice a thing, according to Newkirk and Carter, who radioed here earlier on the walkie-talkies. The disguise was perfect, they added."

"That's good," I said having my mind register where I was. "Our problem still remains. Schruss is on the loose in the tunnels and our operation is at risk."

"Let's split up then," Rob said, grabbing the extra four walkie-talkies from the shelf next to the guns. "Baker, is there anyone else down here in the tunnels?"

"No, Sir," Baker said as he jumped, hearing a loud noise from the tunnels that led to Barracks 8. "Everyone has been above ground since they heard that Schruss was loose and about to get us all killed. But, Colonel Hogan…is the aide on our side?"

"Yes, for now," I answered for Rob, heading down the way to Barracks 8 before Rob could stop me. "Make sure not to shot him if you go to hit Schruss."

I kept running, but I didn't get very far before I came upon the action. Before I could get any further down the tunnel (I was about a quarter of the way to Barracks 8), I saw a figure move…two figures…and from behind me, Kurtz, Rob and Baker quickly came after me. Motioning that we be silent, Rob went in front of me, blocking my view of the dark moving figures. The torches did not go a very good job of giving us a clearer view of who was beyond, but we all knew who they were anyway.

My neck prickled. It wasn't for Rob, but the situation at hand. Panic was thrown into the mix, and before I knew what I was doing, I was jumping for Rob and screaming, "Duck!" as a spray of bullets were thrown at the group. Baker and Kurtz went down immediately, the deadly lead hitting the walls and torches. Some light was knocked out and seeing where Schruss could be was not likely. The situation was worse than before. Even if we did hit him with this lack of light, there was that chance that Jozef will be hit by us, or even Schruss, in the volleys.

"So, Witte was right after all." Schruss' booming voice echoed throughout the tunnels. "His contact was correct in giving me this information so readily before I killed him."

"What would you want to gain from this, Schruss?" Kurtz said, aggravating him further. "Your aide has nothing to do with this, but is a dupe. Let him go. He has nothing to do with this."

"And you don't?" Schruss asked with his voice closer than before and less of an echo. "Rumey has more to give me than you ever will, Kurtz. You keep getting away from what you deserve and start anew without anybody noticing, but me. Rumey here comes back to the same spots and always gets caught."

"More's the reason you should leave the child alone," Kurtz said with his face buried in the sand. I wanted to kick him for what he was doing, but then I realized, as Rob did, that he was buying us more time.

Schruss wasn't anywhere nearby that we can see and silence prevailed. Rob turned his head back to Baker, lower still, and gestured that he head back with reinforcements, but only after we were finished with Schruss, when it was safer (there should be no risk for the men). Before Schruss could come over to us, Baker should leave or he'll have his head hacked off.

Baker obeyed the silent order, crawling at first to turn around then running with his head lowered, to the radio room and eventually, the barracks. When Klink comes back, Baker could also make the excuse of where we were and what Schruss did to the barracks. The tunnels' entranceway has to be fixed as soon as possible too, before excuses were mouthed off. It was easily done, although it would take some explaining as to why the bunks were hacked away and destroyed.

As soon as Baker went out into the darkness, Schruss came out finally into a better light, that coward, with Jozef locked in his right arm, a gun to his temple. Jozef didn't look too afraid, but was struggling to break free. His eyes told me not to worry for him, those hazel eyes of George's that were angry with what was happening…they were pleading for his life. I wanted to kill Schruss, then and there, for threatening to destroy the last part of my biological family and held myself back. I could only know where my careless behavior could land me and what could happen if Schruss' defensive actions backfired.

"So, Kurtz," Schruss said, rubbing the gun's barrel around Jozef's temples. "You say this child is innocent to the ways of the world?"

"Why not just let him go?" Rob said. "Kurtz is right: it's us you want. The child has nothing to do with this operation. He just joined along for the fun of it and to see the action."

I knew that Jozef was going to fume later about being called a child, but right then was not the time to argue. Schruss was holding a life in his dirty hands and if he pulls that trigger, you can count on him dying.

Schruss himself was staring us the three of us and then his eyes glared back to me. His hands were shaking. "So, Colonel Michalovich," he said. "What they are saying is true then."

"Yes," I said carefully. "It is us that you want. If you let him go, I and the others will certainly give ourselves in. We could make it easy for you and calm the men down. I don't think you yourself can handle about five hundred Allied prisoners without the help of the guards. And there aren't too many of them around."

Rob spun his head in my direction, giving me a look that said, _Nikki, are you kidding me?_ But then, he thought of the value of what I said, and it gave him second thoughts. It was a chance to get Schruss and I myself didn't realize that that was where I was heading towards until I thought about it. If he let Jozef go, then we three could all shot him or hold him captive and that was the end of Schruss.

I could tell that Schruss was thinking about this too, his grip on the gun farther away from Jozef's head. I smiled, knowing that any moment we could have this general as putty in our hands.

Schruss eventually, and slowly, released Jozef from his tight grip and, just as the aide was about to move towards our side, Kurtz got up. He went to Jozef at the middle ground, almost embracing him, when I saw some sudden movement. It was Schruss and his gun. Before I could warn the two, Schruss shot his gun.

Both aides hit the ground, both unhurt. The bullets had just missed them, but Schruss had his prey nonetheless. He single-handedly grabbed the two from the ground, with the gun in his right hand as he grabbed Jozef (his left took Kurtz), and threw them both to the nearest wall. Kurtz's head narrowly missed the torch on the wall, but the impact made him unconscious. Jozef wasn't severely hurt by this as his body didn't contact the wall that hard.

Schruss took this as an advantage. He smiled to himself, turning his face on us colonels, and went to inspect his first victims. He kicked Kurtz in the right side, knocking him over in an awkward position. Jozef regained his senses and tried to jump Schruss before he could, but Schruss had his neck in his hands before long as he turned around and took matters into his own hands, so to speak. His gun dropped to the ground and left him without cover. As Rob and I watched from behind, I saw that Schruss was slowly raising the host higher and higher, choking the aide.

I knew that it was the time to act.

Rob knew what I was thinking and I also knew that he was going to regret it as much as I did if he had done it. However, the target was made known and it was perfect. I didn't think this out and no consequences were pondered upon. But action had to be executed and it had to be when Schruss had no cover. He made himself a deadly target.

Before I could even realize it, I had gotten up and grabbed my gun from inside my uniform, hidden just in this case. Schruss sensed this movement and swiveled to face me with Jozef still in his hands, but I had the advantage. With my flawless aiming, I shot Schruss in the heads twice, just narrowly missing Jozef's head as I aimed from the right.

I didn't know what I had done until I saw Kurtz stir from his state of unconsciousness a few precious moments later. Jozef had been, by then, dropped to the ground by cold hands. He crawled to a motionless Schruss on the ground, proclaiming the General dead as he held his wrist checking for a pulse.

I stood still, gun suspended in the air, and stayed in the position for a few more seconds before feeling Rob's arms before me. "He's dead," Rob said as he directed my hands and fingers down and away from the gun's trigger. As Rob took my gun away, I gave him a forced smile, immediately knowing that I had saved the operation. I didn't have the guts to save this human scum. It didn't matter to me how good at heart a person was. They had the right to live and because of my bloody hands I had killed him without thought.

Jozef was besides me, leading me back to the radio room where a series of men from our barracks stood with weapons in their hands. "You saved me," Jozef admitted as much to me as we arrived at the radio room.

"And so I did, as I did with many other men," I said, feeling the pangs of guilt already.

Rob was behind us, helping Kurtz regain his balance. With deep annoyance in me, I saw that to transfer Kurtz in that condition was incorrect and sought to correct it. It was another job that waited for me. Mourning for Schruss can be saved later.

~00~

Kurtz had only suffered a minor concussion and was released from my care after a few days. Jozef had bruises on his head and still had scratches on his neck and that was easily remedied. Both were deemed, by me, to stay within the confines of the tunnels until the coast was clear and the both of them could head back to England to report on what happened. The file that outlined the Stalag 13 tunnels and operations was found in Rob's quarters, copied by Kurtz, and finally destroyed.

After my nephew had been checked by me, his last mission came to him. LeBeau had brought him the briefcase with the Eclipse Plan in it. Jozef detonated the briefcase's traps with complete ease and waited for a few seconds as he fingered the papers and eyed them with regret. With a lighter that Newkirk had handy as he arrived back at Stalag 13 with Carter a moment later, the contents were destroyed. The papers blazed in a small pit that LeBeau had created quickly outside the radio room, a quick solution. It was the spot where the mission ended.

It was the end, the end of Germany, and there it was, buried in ashes in the tunnels of a prisoner of war camp.

Afterward, all the men went back to bed except for me and Rob. As the men crept silently up the ladder and around the temporary cover for the tunnels, we went back to Klink's quarters after cleaning ourselves up, waiting for him to come back. And he did only a few minutes after we did, complaining about a wild goose chase with no prisoners escaping, the aides and general gone and dinner and dishes destroyed. _Geez, I wonder why!_ I thought as Rob winked at me and smiled, asking for Klink to be dismissed.

Klink wrinkled his forehead in frustration, Schultz behind him appearing to be "seeing, hearing and knowing NO-TING!" (I saw it on his face and the way he almost covered his face with his hands). Our Iron Eagle Colonel, though, was in no mood for explanations.

"Just save your jokes for tomorrow morning, Colonel Hogan," Klink said as he picked up a broken plate. "And you can complain about the punishment, for a false report of escape, later: no white bread and hot water showers for the men for the remainder of the week. Dismissed!"

~00~

Kurtz and Jozef…every time I think of the pair fleeing from Nazi Germany, I feel as if something was missing. Those two had created something more for me: civilian life maybe? I don't know, but I do miss Jozef already and will try to provide for him when the war ends and I see him again. Kurtz…well, after fighting with him and trying to hold him down for a few hours with Wilson helping me, I think that I can take a break from him.

I feel guilty, though. I have had my mistakes, as everyone else has, and somehow, knowing that I murdered someone directly will pass. In my mind, I can remember the oath I took to protect those hurting and I will always feel as if I were some fiend in killing a fellow human being. Many men have pointed out that it was scum that I got rid of and it was right to comfort me in such. Disgusting as he was though, Schruss may have had someone out there who cared for him. Rob did point out that a great many women cared for him (for his position and money, most likely). And somehow, I don't feel as guilty. But nothing will take back that I murdered someone like that.

We did bury Schruss with the correct military fashion (ours, not the Germans' way). It was a short funeral because roll call was in the next half hour and the guards were up and about (earlier than 0600 hours because of the wild goose chase we gave Klink). His grave was yards away from the stump, far away from the threat he gave us not too long ago. His marker is a simple circle of stones, a remainder of life being a circle: sunrise and sundown.


	14. A Slight Miscalculation

**October 13  
****The Tunnels' Storage Room – 0436 Hours**

You may wonder why I am in here. Usually, I am not in charge of supplies, but Rob is since he is commanding officer. Well, Rob is sleeping besides me in this caved-in part of the tunnel and we're still waiting for the men to get us unburied. Yes, I did say that we were caught down here because of a CAVE-IN. I don't know why it happened exactly (above, there is much noise because there are tanks and Panzer divisions above the tunnels), but here we are. Now, above the noise, I am listening to the scrapping of metal against whatever is between us and them. It's comforting to know that at least LeBeau was down here, and not hurt, when he saw this happen and ran upstairs to receive help. It was, after all, his idea that the supplies be checked last night, so it might account for why he was down here with us, angry and complaining about why we have not had a decent meal in a long time.

I can also say that this has been a dangerous night, one that will live in my memory as the night when Rob and I resumed a more physical relationship. It was something we have not bothered to touch in a little more than a decade. And somehow, _somehow_, the feeling arose at the worst possible moment and it seemed to have lasted a lifetime, a _lifetime_ that might never come again, much as I missed it.

LeBeau came up to Rob and me last night as we sipped our evening coffee, which would barely have an effect on our sleep as the Red Cross sends us nothing strong anymore. It was after the evening roll call, at 2100 hours (added a few months ago instead of a head count), when he said to Rob, saluting and standing up as straight as he could muster, "Colonel Hogan, I propose that we go down in the tunnels and check the supplies."

"What's the 'atter, Louis?" Newkirk asked from his bunk as he smoked away on his last cigarette for the night (lights were supposed to go out at this time, but we were pushing the limits). "The new ration cuts have you an'ry?"

"No," LeBeau answered hotly as he turned to face Newkirk. "I'm just tired of all the potatoes that Schultz gives us. Day and night I labor with my hands to bring you the best French food and you barbarian Englishmen, Americans and Russians have –"

"Ok, ok, I think we get the point, LeBeau," Rob said, putting his hands up in surrender and almost laughing at LeBeau's contradictory answer to Newkirk. "The Colonel and I will go down with you personally to check the supplies and see what we can bring up here. It's not a problem." Grabbing the clipboard of the list of food supplies from under the bucket of logs (fake logs, I might add, that hide our maps, papers, some guns and supply lists), Rob gestured that I come down into the tunnels to see what we can do to satisfy LeBeau (more like, being there when the Frenchman grows angry about our low supplies). As the men of Barracks 9 and ours had made the entranceway to the tunnels more permanent (and fooling Klink into thinking that it wasn't damaged), Rob had no problems tapping the bunk and revealing our guarded system.

We went through the tunnels to reach the supply room. It is a fairly short walk, just between Barracks 7 and 8 (I shuddered a little when we passed the place I killed Schruss). When we got there, Rob twisted right to light the darkened room with the spare torch with his lighter. The glow gave a yellowish tinge to the piles of shelves stacked up against the wall.

With LeBeau in the doorway (his arms were stubbornly crossed, appearing as if he was a child who wasn't getting his way), Rob took the clipboard out from under his arm and started reading off the list as I, with some slight irritation (bothered that I wasn't relaxing in the barracks) went through every box and tin can to reassure our cook that everything was in order. To be frank, some items were missing so it wouldn't hurt to ask London for an airdrop.

"All right, Colonel," Rob asked, taking out a pencil and putting it to his tongue. "Do we have spam? Sardines? Red potatoes? Jugs of water? Wine?"

And with almost every item on the list, I would say in the monotone voice, "Check," showing LeBeau what was there and what was missing. He was a little more than cross that the onion supplies have been depleted and that the potatoes were plentiful in stock. The vegetables were rotting a little and the fresh fruit was gone. _An airdrop would us a bit more than good_, I said as I proclaimed that there was also no more garlic.

And there was some profanity from a little Frenchman like you wouldn't believe! Rob tried to keep his laughter down, but as always, his total authoritative personality came through foremost, trying to calm down the Corporal.

I heard the rumbling just as Rob jokingly asked for tomatoes.

I was first to look up at the crumbling ceiling. After calming down, which was in an instant, LeBeau glanced up uncertainly. Rob was doing the same.

"What is that?" LeBeau asked as dirt from above him crumbled down and coated him with a shade of brown. I stopped my speculations, though, and returned to the situation at hand.

"Maybe the Krauts have decided to turn up the noise for the war," Rob answered mockingly as he asked me if there were any more spare candles. I said my usual "Check" as I, too, saw more dirt come apart from the ceiling. My eyes were becoming more and more blurry as the dust ran through them. The rumbling noises were louder and louder and were coming the way towards our little Stalag 13.

Rob's mind knew what this was and he went into a brief shockwave fear. "It's tanks and Panzers! Take cover!" he yelled. LeBeau was pushed out of the way by Rob as the tunnels collapsed, creating a barrier between us in the supply room and LeBeau outside in the tunnels. I pulled Rob back towards me, and by the time I did so, I felt some ceiling board hit me in the head as the walls behind us loosen. They stayed intact, though, and that much I can be thankful for. The food was still there, the torch went out and Rob was safely inside. I, however, was feeling a bruise coming on.

"Are you all right?" Rob asked me immediately as he turned around, noticing that he was still in my arms.

"Yes," I said out loud, for both LeBeau and Rob. LeBeau had yelled the same question as the chaotic event ended.

"I'll get some men to dig you out," LeBeau called out, and from there, I heard his feet running. The tanks and Panzers were still above us, and the dirt continued to fall upon our heads. Nothing more came down but the walls seemed to want to crack under the weight of the German war effort.

Rob sighed as he sat up and released himself from my arms. He relit the torch, putting it on a holder on the wall, and looked at his watch. "It's 2135 hours exactly," he said. His voice sounded…somewhat different. He wanted something as if he hungered for it.

"What does that mean?" I asked, rubbing my head. "It just tells us that we're in for a long night."

"Are you sure you're all right, Nikki?" Rob asked me, like if it was a joke, as he crawled to me again and held me. "You aren't very snappy about being disrupted from your coffee break."

"Well, maybe I thought it might be better to amuse LeBeau!" I said, truly mad. Rob was in front of me, taking in my answer and weighing it, as he always does. I broke from his embrace and glare, crossing my arms like LeBeau did just a precious twenty minutes ago, but loosen my stiffness as Rob stared oddly at me from that small distance away. It was much like some time, long ago, when he looked at me the same way.

The time afterward felt like a dream. Events moved quickly at those moments and within an eye's blink. I felt it too as I stared back into that murky gaze, that same feeling from years before, and it was almost immediate. I saw something flicker is his eyes, something that I had not seen in many, many years, and felt myself melt. I don't think it was realized that Rob wanted it as much as I did or the span of time of which we last held each other that way. I don't know what it could be or how my angry self just swung from one mood to that one within a short span of time.

"The waiting has always been the hardest part," Rob said and gulped. I couldn't agree more.

As every stiff article of clothing slowly came off and the feelings were out into the open, our rescue began as soon as we heard Baker direct the digging party to where we were stuck, the real prisoners caught in pleasure. They couldn't hear anything in this heat of passion though, caught in a time alone for some unknown reason. Rob and I were into our own desires, as quiet as Christian church mice.

I don't mean to be inappropriate in describing this. There are still no words to say how much bliss I have felt and no beauty to compare it to, whatever the danger outside these walls are. I know that I have broken so many promises when I did this. I knew Rob was going to feel the same way later on. But I felt myself _change_, as if this was a period of time in-between. This was a space of a split second, a time of which I could have changed from a happier mood to a swing of anger. This surprised me as much as did to Rob and I knew that this wouldn't be the last time.

We are now a bond together in this. So it goes now.

~00~

I'm writing this as it is happening, just as Jozef did in what seemed to be ages ago…the voices outside are getting louder and louder. LeBeau is the most deafening of the bunch, constantly blaming himself for has happened even though it wasn't his fault. He didn't know that there were Panzers and tanks coming this way. He didn't know that with them coming here, the tunnels would collapse and two colonels would be trapped inside within their desire. As a matter of fact, I think that LeBeau left us with much more than just a night together and so many broken dreams. It was a night to remember.

Rob was sleeping here beside me, with his head in my shoulder. By the time the rescue teams came down, we were fully clothed, under a blanket and ready to leave.

"Gov'ness, gov'nor, are you all right in there?" I see Newkirk's face now, popping out from a hole at the top like a letter peeking through the mail slot in the door.

"Yes, Newkirk," I said, waking Rob up gently. "I think we're a little more than all right."

Rob rubbed his eyes; his head had been perched on my shoulder for the past few hours. For me, just writing and waiting patiently enough for this to come to a close was enough to have me jumping for joy. Those couple of hours together has made my heart sing, and even as sit here now, I await for news from upstairs. I'm writing as the men pile themselves around the hole and slide in, digging a bigger hole for each man coming in.

LeBeau came down with Carter, Usher, Titan and Wilson. Baker was behind them, coming in with Morrison and his riding crop. Then there was Jacobs, Olsen and everyone from our barracks, Barracks 19, 7, 13 and 9. Wilson saw that we're all unhurt and being hurdled on a blanket together caused many men to whistle.

"Enough, fellows," Rob said as he sat up. _At least we had our clothes on in time_, I thought as Rob asked Baker, "Is there any news from London?"

"The radio only caught some of it," Baker admitted. "It still needs to be repaired. Schruss did a fine job of messing with it." Baker paused. "They did say that everyone arrived safely and the information has been written down. They also mentioned some positions of the tanks and Panzers before being lost."

"Good." Rob yawned, rubbing his eyes again and staring at his watch. I saw, over his shoulder, that it is now 0500 hours, on the dot.

"We had better get moving," I said to everyone in general, but it was mostly directed to Rob.

"Yes, we do," Rob said, getting up, "and we have another mission ahead of us, other than replacing and restocking these supplies and repairing the radio."

"And what might mission that be, Sir?" Carter asked, the first time in a long time that he didn't stutter upon some word.

_And all the things that you never, ever told me and all the smiles that are ever…ever…_

"Well, there are Panzer divisions and tanks above," Rob said, dusting himself off and pulling the blanket off of me, "and we need to find out why they are on this side of Germany. Let's wait until after roll call." He smiled, taking his colonel's hat off of the shelf where I left it only a few hours ago, and left through the doorway the men created.

I smiled at them all, thanking them for a job well done, and am going after Rob in a few minutes. I didn't even bother to clean up whatever mess we made in the hours down here. I don't think it'll matter now, as the men probably know what conspired down there, in the darkness of a supply room under a prison camp.

"Did anyone tell Colonel 'ogan that Group Captain Crittendon is 'ere?" I heard one of the British prisoners say behind me. "'e was just captured before those tanks came 'bout a few hours ago."


	15. Smaller and Smaller

**Later – Afternoon  
****Outside of Barracks 14 – 1540 Hours**

I keep thinking about last night as I sit here with Olsen, watching the tanks go by. The commander over there, who's talking with Klink inside of the Main Gate over yonder, looks to be as if he is staying here with his men. A rest wouldn't hurt them, but their tanks might be.

I'm trying to keep my mind on that and Olsen keeps me off of the task, randomly popping questions when he looks into his binoculars as to when Rob and I are marrying. "Not anytime soon, if this war keeps up," I said coldly and much more distantly than I wanted to. I should think I would marry Rob at the war's end, as soon as we reach American soil, and settle someplace far away. However, right now, the time keeps me from searching my mind for the perfect home, the family, anything that was labeled civilian life.

Oops, here comes Schultz…by the way, Klink did happen to send Private Polsenhelf to the Russian Front. Just this morning he bid us farewell. The 0600 roll call was the last time I'll be seeing that hideous assailant.

"Good riddance," Schultz murmured as Klink announced this to the Kraut guards and the prisoners that Private Polsenhelf, who was caught sleeping on duty, was heading to the Russian Front because of the lack of strong men.

There was much cheering, of course, and Polsenhelf was scoffing at everyone and giving me, in particular, a dirty scuff. And so, with the truck heading eastward, he left. Another sentry was to replace him, and by the looks of it, he was about fourteen years old.

Where has the German army gone to? Indeed, why do they send younger and younger children to fight these wars? Or, why do older men take over the places of their sons and grandsons, to serve their Führer?

Much minor than this…why is Crittenden back here?

The danger has passed now and Olsen and I are now back on our light duties of watching the tanks, their positions, what division they are, etc. Olsen keeps hogging the binoculars so I have to stare out into the distance to see what's going on.

~00~

_She weeps time, starts unspoken  
But when the gate swings, there she'll be  
And there she'll be  
In green sun, on blue earth  
Under warm running shower…_

I keep thinking about those lines. It was something written so long ago that I almost forgotten about them, except last night happened. It is past now. There should be no regrets over anything, but a sorrow that the war is still on. And this frightens me more than anything in the world, especially of this discovery Olsen and I have just seen. My joy has been overshadowed by this new development. The present has brought my memories backward so that I can forget what has conspired so long ago, it seems.

I am trembling to write now. Oh, dear G-d, from what I can see without the binoculars, a small stream of red is flowing from beyond the tanks. Olsen sees it, too. He's kept his sight on it for a while and is very white, never moving a muscle because of the shock of it. He's even turned white with distress and appears to be sick.

There, I can see it again! It's coming from beyond from the Kraut group that had just arrived here. The Kraut soldiers keep stepping over it or are trying not to go on touching it, making sure it is what they think it is. I certainly can't believe what it is, too! It's been getting smaller and smaller as it starts to reach the gates of Stalag 13. Nevertheless, it has left a small pool at the bottom where the Main Gate is and our Luftwaffe guards here are becoming antsy…

It was a small flow of blood.


End file.
